GIFT  OF 
Prof.    Benlarain  P.   Kurtz 


TWELVE  ANDAMANESE  SONGS 


BY 

BENJAMIN  P.  KURTZ 


TWELVE  ANDAMANESE  SONGS 

BENJAMIN  P.  KUKTZ 

By  their  introductory  and  general  studies  of  the  beginnings 
of  poetry,  Gummere,  Schmidt,  Ridgeway,  Mackenzie,  and  a  few 
others1  have  opened  the  way  for  specific  investigation  in  the  songs, 
stories,  and  dramatic  performances  of  each  of  the  simpler  peoples. 
But  at  first  this  specific  study  must  perforce  be  largely  descrip- 
tive and  textual  in  character,  for  the  fragmentary,  inaccurate, 
and  confused  condition  of  much  of  the  material  available  for 
examination  makes  indispensable  a  careful,  preliminary  checking 
of  information,  texts,  and  translations. 

Every  one  who  has  attempted  to  study  at  second  hand  the 
emotional  and  imaginative  utterances  of  the  simpler  peoples  has 
commented  upon  the  incomplete  and  misleading  reports — by 
travelers,  explorers,  missionaries,  and  resident  European  officials 
—with  which  he  has  had  to  deal.  The  initial  difficulty  of  secur- 
ing from  the  savages  themselves  accurate  accounts  of  their  beliefs, 
customs,  legends,  and  songs ;  the  probability  that  the  fragmentary 
results  of  first-hand  inquiry  have  been  rendered  still  more  unsat- 
isfactory by  the  inaccuracy  of  the  reporter-;  the  certainty  that 
many  translations  from  the  native  tongues  are  highly  colored  or 
sentimentalized:  these  handicaps  are  generally  recognized.  But 
what  is  not  sufficiently  realized  is  the  substantial  inaccuracy  of 
many  translations  by  experienced  and  careful  observers  who  are 
themselves  proficient  in  the  native  languages  with  which  they  are 
working.  Because  they  are  interested  not  in  the  actual,  aesthetic 
form  of  the  song  or  story,  but  rather  in  its  general  content — its 


1  For  problems  of  study  and  bibliography  see  Gayley  and  Kurtz,  Lyric, 
Epic,  and  Allied  Types  of  Poetry  (Ginn  &  Co.,  1920),  pp.  369-374;  cf.  pp. 
141-145,  149-182,  591-596,  605-609,  615-668;  also  Gayley  and  Scott, 
Methods  and  Materials  of  Lit.  Grit.,  Bases  in  Aesthetics  (Ginn  &  Co.,  1899). 
pp.  266-274. 


80         University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

meaning  in  relation  to  some  particular  research  in  the  customs 
or  beliefs  of  the  tribe — these  reporters  have  not  seldom  yielded 
to  the  temptation  of  offering  as  a  translation  what  really  is  a 
summary  of  the  original  or  even  an  expanded  explanation  of  it. 
The  temptation  to  indulge  in  the  latter  is  especially  strong  in 
the  case  of  songs,  for  most  "primitive"  lyrics  are  so  abrupt, 
allusive,  and  brief  that  their  meaning  has  to  be  developed  and 
explained.  The  Andamanese,  for  example,  have  a  brief  song 
(II,  below)  the  actual  form  of  which  is  fairly  well  represented 
as  follows: 

By  beetles  my  ears  are  rasped, 
By  cicadas  my  ears  are  rasped  O. 
My  ears  are  rasped  O  and  buzzing  O. 
My  ears  are  rasped  0  and  Tzuzzing  0. 

But  from  this  faithful  translation  the  complete  meaning  of  the 
lyric  would  never  be  guessed.  The  Andamanese  audience,  from 
certain  familiar  allusions,  understands  at  once  that  the  composer 
is  telling  why  he  failed  to  secure  a  wild  pig  in  a  recent  hunting 
expedition.  To  make  the  matter  clear  the  British  collector  offers 
the  following  expanded,  explanatory  "translation": 

The  beetles  and  cicadas  are  making  such  a  noise  in  the  jungle  that 
my  ears  are  deafened  and  I  cannot  hear  the  sound  of  pigs.  My  ears  are 
deafened,  and  there  is  a  singing  in  them. 

Now  it  is  just  such  substitution  of  explanation  and  para- 
phrase for  accurate  translation  that  makes  analyses  of  poetic 
form  and  investigations  in  development  well-nigh  impossible. 
Paraphrase,  indeed,  obscures  parallelism  in  meaning — the  chief 
formal  trait  of  most  of  these  songs.  To  detect  parallelism  and 
discover  its  varieties — complete  or  incomplete,  synonymous,  anti- 
thetical, or  incremental — the  investigator  must  know  not  only  the 
meaning  of  each  word  or  agglutinative  compound  in  the  original, 
but  also  how  each  word  or  compound  is  made  up — what  is  root, 
prefix,  infix,  and  suffix.  Here  is  a  case  in  point.  In  the  first 
chapter  of  his  Beginnings  of  Poetry  Gummere  quotes  "two" 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  81 

Cherokee  songs  of  friendship,  with  translations  by  a  "Mr.  Hicks, 
a  Cherokee  of  half  blood." 

Can,  nal,  li,  eh,  ne-was-tu. 
A  friend  you  resemble. 

Chorus.     Yai,  ne,  noo,  way.    E,  noo,  way,  ha. 

Ti,  nai,  tau,  na,  cla,  ne-was-tu. 
Brothers  I  think  we  are. 

And  the  chorus  as  before.  A  glance  at  the  original  verses  reveals 
the  fact  that  these  "two"  songs  are  related  in  form,  perhaps  as 
two  stanzas  of  one  scng,  or  as  two  similar  songs  composed  at 
the  same  time  or  at  different  times.  They  not  only  have  the 
same  chorus,  but  the  compound  ne-was-tu  appears  in  the  same 
position  in  each.  Now  the  point  to  be  observed  is  that  the  trans- 
lation obscures  this  parallelism,  and  thereby  misses  a  salient 
characteristic  of  the  original.  Moreover,  to  appreciate  the  full 
effect  of  this  salient  trait  one  must  understand  each  part  of  this 
compound.  Finally,  until  we  have  a  faithful  word-for-word 
translation  we  cannot  determine  whether  or  not  any  antithetical 
or  synonymous  parallelism  is  contained  in  the  Can,  nal,  li,  eh  of 
the  first  and  the  Ti,  nai,  tau,  na,  cla  of  the  second  line.  Professor 
Gummere  calls  Mr.  Hicks'  translation  "interlinear";  properly 
speaking,  it  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  To  base  any  extensive  ac- 
count of  primitive  songs  upon  translations  like  this  would  be 
unscientific. 

Many  other  examples  of  unsatisfactory  versions — including 
"interlinear"  and  professed  literal  translations — by  writers  fa- 
miliar with  the  original  languages  might  be  offered.  The  more 
carefully  the  original  texts  are  compared  with  the  translations 
the  less  satisfactory  do  the  latter  appear.  Washington  Matthews, 
who  lived  for  years  among  the  Navajo  Indians,  knew  their  lan- 
guage, and  compiled  a  Navajo  dictionary  (still  in  MS.),  pub- 
lished many  of  their  songs  both  in  the  original  and  in  translation ; 
but  even  his  versions,  as  checked  by  his  own  dictionary  or  that 
of  the  Franciscan  Fathers,  are  not  always  verbally  exact  or  suffi- 
ciently representative  of  formal  characteristics.  Miss  Frances 


82         University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

Densmore,  the  accomplished  student  of  Chippewa  and  Teton 
Sioux  music,  is  so  deeply  interested  in  the  musical  aspect  of 
Indian  song  that  her  translations,  even  though  she  has  had  the 
assistance  of  educated  natives,  are  demonstrably  imperfect  in 
respect  of  the  diction  and  syntax  of  the  original. 

Of  course  some  interlinear  versions — especially  those  by 
anthropologists  with  philological  training — are  entirely  satisfac- 
tory, or  nearly  so.  Versions  by  such  men  as  Dorsey,  Boas,  and 
Goddard  leave  little  to  be  desired.  But  the  mass  of  our  materials 
is  not  authoritative. 

In  the  light  of  such  facts  as  these  it  is  easy  to  point  out  what 
should  be  done  in  a  descriptive  and  textual  way  before  the  student 
of  the  beginnings  of  poetry  can  proceed  to  systematic  analysis 
of  the  materials  available.  Such  texts  as  we  have  should  be 
checked,  edited,  and  re-translated  by  specially  qualified  persons 
with  the  assistance  of  trustworthy  members  of  the  native  tribes 
concerned.  A  "specially  qualified  person"  would  be  a  scholar 
who  had  been  trained  in  philological  research  and  who  had  ac- 
quired at  first  hand  his  knowledge  of  a  given  language.  Investi- 
gations should  be  carried  on  among  the  natives  themselves,  "on 
the  spot." 

But  these  "shoulds"  are  a  counsel  of  perfection.  Desirable 
as  such  procedure  is,  it  is  seldom  possible,  and  as  time  flies  the 
simpler  peoples  perish.  Therefore,  the  student  of  the  simpler 
poetries  either  must  wait  until  the  counsel  of  perfection  is  real- 
ized— and  the  probabilities  are  against  its  ever  being  realized  in 
a  large  measure — or  he  must  himself  do  what  can  be  done  under 
the  circumstances.  In  respect  of  a  given  original  and  a  suspicious 
translation  he  may  attempt :  ( 1 )  by  means  of  a  thorough  study 
of  the  proper  dictionaries,  grammars,  and  other  apparatus  to 
separate  each  word  or  compound  of  the  original  into  its  parts — 
prefix,  infix,  root,  suffix,  etc. — as  in  a  literal,  interlinear  trans- 
lation, and  to  explain  the  function  of  each  part;  (2)  by  means 
of  this  word-analysis  and  interlinear  translation  to  check  the 
inaccuracies,  unwarrantable  expansions,  and  omissions  of  the 
given  version,  or  to  produce  a  new  version,  keeping  as  close  to 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  83 

the  form  of  the  original  as  the  genius  of  his  own  language  will 
anywise  permit. 

This  possible  task  is  in  many  cases  made  comparatively  easy 
by  the  general  guidance  which  the  purported  translation  affords. 
Such  a  "translation,"  for  instance,  as  the  expanded  explanation 
of  the  Andamanese  song  given  above  would  be  a  material  help, 
and  many  scientifically  unsatisfactory  versions  give  even  more 
help,  of  a  general  sort.  Without  this  guidance  the  task  might 
well  be  vague  and  hopeless,  but  with  it  the  problem  is  roughly 
comparable,  say,  to  working  out  a  literal  translation  of  a  passage 
of  Homer  or  Dante  by  means  of  a  dictionary,  a  grammar,  and 
a  more  or  less  free  "pony."  Of  course  it  may  be  objected  that 
the  genius  of  an  agglutinative  ' '  simple ' '  language  is  very  strange 
to  the  language-sense  of  a  European.  But  though  many  of  the 
tongues  with  which  the  investigator  may  be  concerned  are  com- 
plex in  respect  of  word-forms,  most  of  them  are  rather  simple 
in  principle,  and  a  little  study  of  one,  under  competent  guidance, 
goes  a  long  way  toward  supplying  a  language-sense  for  others. 

That  mistakes  in  word-analysis  and  translation  will  be  made 
in  the  work  proposed  goes  without  saying.  But  four  consider- 
ations will  largely  offset  the  embarrassment  of  these  inevitable 
errors.  An  abbreviated,  expanded,  or  otherwise  too  free  transla- 
tion that  has  been  checked  and  supplemented  in  the  way  described 
will  measurably  approach  a  complete  and  accurate  representation 
of  the  original  in  meaning  and  form,  and  as  such  will  be  prefer- 
able as  a  basis  for  inductive  studies.  Moreover,  just  as  to  the 
making  of  critical  editions  of  texts  in  the  unknown  or  little 
known  languages  of  antiquity  many  scholars  and  generations  of 
scholars  have  contributed,  so  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  attempt 
to  initiate  study  of  these  less  important  texts  will  lead  to  further 
criticism  by  qualified  students,  and  to  some  increase  in  the  philo- 
logical apparatus  pertaining  to  the  task.  By  the  very  conditions 
of  the  study  perfect  translations  are  beyond  the  hope  of  the 
pioneer,  but  he  need  not  therefore  be  discouraged.  If  his  errors 
lead  to  corrections  he  has  been  of  service.  Again,  if  each  text 
is  fully  and  honestly  annotated  the  amount  of  error  will  be 


84         University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

minimized.  To  each  interlinear  translation  should  be  attached 
extensive  critical  notes,  comprising  a  precise  and  explicit  account 
of  the  authority  on  which  each  word-analysis  is  based,  clear  dis- 
tinctions between  well-grounded  analyses  and  "guesses"  (with 
the  reasons  for  each  "guess"),  and  frank  confession  of  the 
difficulties  that  have  proved  insurmountable,  of  the  problems  of 
word-study  and  syntax  that  are  yet  to  be  mastered.  The  amount 
of  error  that  may  creep  into  a  treatment  as  candid  as  this  need 
not  be  a  serious  deterrent.  Finally,  the  detailed  explanation 
of  the  form  and  function  of  each  word  and  compound  will  make 
it  feasible  for  any  student  who  wishes  to  study  a  given  song  or 
story  in  its  relation  to  his  particular  problem  of  research  to  gain, 
with  comparatively  little  effort,  a  fairly  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  original  text — a  very  important  desideratum. 

A  prerequisite,  then,  for  specific  study  of  the  beginnings  of 
"literature"  among  the  lower  races  is  the  critical  preparation 
of  a  series  of  original  texts  and  approximately  word-for-word 
translations,  annotated  and  emended  as  indicated  above.  So  far 
as  possible  the  materials  we  have  from  each  of  the  simpler  peoples 
should  be  treated  thus,  until  by  accumulation  of  these  textual 
studies  we  obtain  a  critical  corpus,  which  will  afford,  in  turn,  the 
basis  for  further  analytic  and  comparative  study  of  processes  of 
composition,  of  the  differentiation,  development,  and  function  of 
special  forms  or  types,  and  of  the  technique  of  action,  situation, 
plot  and  character,  diction  and  parallelism,  rhythm  and  metre. 
It  is  highly  desirable,  moreover,  that  to  each  special  collection 
there  be  prefixed  a  digest,  with  due  indication  of  agreement  and 
disagreement  of  authorities,  of  our  information  concerning  the 
origin,  composition,  and  occasion,  the  persistence,  distribution, 
and  transformation,  and  the  method  of  delivery  of  the  sort  of 
compositions  represented  in  the  study,  as  well  as  a  brief  estimate 
of  the  cultural  conditions  or  level  of  the  tribe  or  people  concerned. 
A  bibliography  of  the  more  important  works  to  be  consulted 
should  also  be  added,  annotated  to  give  the  student  some  idea 
of  the  content  and  value  of  each  work  in  its  bearing  upon  the 
general  culture  or  poetic  compositions  of  the  people. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  85 

The  field  of  this  project  is  very  wide.  If  we  consider  only  one 
division  of  it,  the  songs  of  the  simpler  peoples,  we  shall  find, 
on  a  very  rough  estimate,  that  there  are,  exclusive  of  entirely 
satisfactory  editions  by  a  few  anthropologists  and  other  scholars, 
between  two  and  three  thousand  songs  which  can  be  and  ought 
to  be  edited  as  has  been  proposed.  We  possess  many  songs,  in 
both  the  original  languages  and  translations,  of  the  lower  races 
of  Africa,  Australia,  North  and  South  America,  Asia,  and 
Oceania  (consider,  e.g.,  the  hundreds  of  Maori  songs  alone), 
which  must  be  edited  as  critically  as  possible  before  students  of 
literature  can  study  them  systematically. 

To  render  this  proposal  clearer  an  attempt  is  here  made,  by 
way  of  example,  to  study  the  texts  of  twelve  Andamanese  songs 
contained  in  M.  V.  Portman 's  Notes  on  the  Languages  of  the 
South  Andaman  Group  of  Tribes.2  But  it  must  be  understood 
that  what  is  presented  here  is  only  a  preliminary  sketch  for  a 
more  thorough  and  extensive  study  which  is  in  course  of  prepar- 
ation and  which  will  include  all  the  available  songs  and  stories 
of  this  people,  as  well  as  a  complete  summary  of  our  informa- 
tion concerning  the  general  culture  and  poetic  practice  of  the 
Andamanese. 


2  Published  by  the  Office  of  the  Supt.  of  Government  Printing,  India 
(Calcutta,  1898).  M.  V.  Portman,  for  several  years  the  officer  in  charge 
of  the  Andamanese,  made  a  careful  study  of  the  dialects  of  the  South 
Andaman  group  of  tribes,  compiling  a  grammar  and  a  comparative  vocab- 
ulary with  extensive  explanatory  notes.  These,  together  with  fairly 
copious  examples  of  Andamanese  prose  and  verse,  he  published  in  the 
volume  noted  above.  His  work  is  painstaking,  accurate,  and  authoritative. 
His  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  natives  and  their  language  and  his 
constant  endeavor  to  check  all  his  information  by  comparison  of  several 
first-hand  reports  offset  the  disadvantage,  which  he  himself  admits,  that 
he  is  not  a  trained  philologist.  To  the  thirteen  songs  included  in  this 
work  very  little  attention  has  been  paid  by  students  of  the  beginnings  of 
poetry.  For  reasons  of  space  I  have  had  to  omit  consideration  of  the  last 
song,  which  is  somewhat  longer  than  the  others.  The  present  account  of 
Andamanese  culture  is  based  for  the  most  part  upon  Portman  and  E.  H. 
Man  (reference  below). 


86         University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 


THE  ANDAMANESE 

The  Andaman  Islands,  situated  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  west 
of  the  lower  strip  of  Burma  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
from  the  nearest  point  of  the  mainland,  have  been  inhabited 
from  a  remote  past,  perhaps  since  the  Pleistocene  period  and 
certainly  since  the  Neolithic  Age,  by  a  people  whose  racial  affini- 
ties are  obscure.  The  Andamanese  are  generally  classed  as  of 
negrito  stock  and  it  is  probable  that  they  are  related  to  the 
negritos  who  once  inhabited  the  southeast  portion  of  Asia  and 
certain  adjacent  islands,  and  who,  probably,  were  the  ancestors 
of  the  Semangs  of  the  Malay  Peninsula  and  the  Aetas  of  the 
Philippines.  The  kitchen  middens  on  the  Andaman  Islands  are 
of  great  age — some  of  them  are  more  than  fifteen  feet  high — and 
the  fact  that  identical  forms  of  pottery  and  stone  implements  are 
found  at  the  surface  and  the  base  of  the  middens  implies  that 
the  aborigines  have  not  varied  greatly  in  culture  from  age  to  age. 
Probably  never  numerous,  the  natives  have  been  so  disastrously 
affected  by  contact  with  civilization  that  in  1883  they  numbered 
but  four  thousand  souls,  and  their  early  extermination  was  antici- 
pated. Eighteen  years  later  that  number  was  cut  in  half. 

Their  culture  is  so  very  simple  that  the  Andamanese  have 
been  regarded  by  anthropologists  as  among  the  most  primitive 
of  existing  human  beings.  They  belong  to  the  "collecting"  and 
lower-hunting  peoples.  They  live  on  edible  roots,  wild  fruits 
and  honey,  molluscs,  turtle,  fish,  the  larvae  of  insects,  and 
certain  small  jungle  animals,  notably  the  wild  pig.  Food  is  so 
easily  procured  that  nomadism  is  restricted.  Domesticated  ani- 
mals were  unknown  until  the  Europeans  imported  dogs,  which 
are  now  greatly  prized  for  hunting.  Agriculture  was  also  intro- 
duced by  strangers  and  the  natives  still  regard  it  as  a  degrading 
occupation.  Their  habitations,  even  the  most  permanent,  are 
of  the  roughest.  The  art  of  producing  fire  they  seem  never  to 
have  known,  and  probably  they  first  obtained  fire  in  the  form  of 
glowing  coals  from  some  neighboring  volcano.  But  they  have 
developed  great  skill  in  preserving  it. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  87 

Their  life,  socially  and  morally,  is  far  from  complicated. 
The  family  is  recognized.  There  is  a  marked  equality  of  husband 
and  wife,  and  considerable  mutual  affection.  Political  organi- 
zation is  of  the  simplest,  a  division  into  tribes  and  septs,  and 
within  the  tribe  a  primitive  communism  modified  by  the  more 
or  less  nominal  authority  of  the  chief.  Succession  to  the  office 
of  chief  is  by  popular  choice,  and  the  minority  is  always  free  to 
transfer  its  tribal  allegiance.  The  individual  takes  the  "law" 
into  his  own  hands,  but  disputes  are  often  settled  through  the 
influence  of  the  chief,  who,  however,  has  no  authority  to  exact 
obedience.  Childish  fits  of  temper,  to  which  the  natives  are  sub- 
ject and  which  usually  wear  themselves  out  in  a  capricious  de- 
struction of  property,  go  unpunished.  Some  murders  are 
avenged,  but  many  a  murderer  succeeds  in  frightening  off  his 
fellows,  or  has  the  good  sense  to  leave  the  village  until  popular 
excitement  has  died  down,  when  he  may  return  with  impunity. 
Ordeals,  covenants,  and  oaths  to  guarantee  performance  of  con- 
tract seem  not  to  be  known  to  this  primitive  folk. 

Their  morality  has  been  lowered  by  intercourse  with  civilized 
peoples,  but  in  their  isolated  and  peaceful  state  they  seem  to 
have  been  modest,  self-reliant,  candid,  and  rather  veracious;  de- 
voted and  tender  in  their  care  of  the  infirm,  the  aged,  and  the 
very  young;  and  sedulous  to  observe  the  duties  of  hospitality. 
The  women  always  wear  aprons,  and  are  modest  to  the  point  of 
prudery.  The  men,  unless  prevented  by  the  whites,  go  naked 
except  for  certain  ornaments.  Commercial  dishonesty,  so  far  as 
it  exists,  is  an  acquired  trait.  The  Andamanese  are  little  given 
to  trading  among  themselves.  Their  transactions  are  in  the 
nature  of  a  generous  making  of  presents  for  which  equivalent 
gifts  are  expected.  Quarrels  arise  when  an  inadequate  return  is 
offered.  Greed  for  the  material  goods  of  life  is  rare,  they  are  not 
given  to  accumulation  of  possessions,  and  property  is  not  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation.  In  warfare,  cunning  and 
treachery  are  relied  upon  and  heroic  courage  is  lacking;  but 
cowards  are  ridiculed. 


88         University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

The  Andamanese  have  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  spear,  and  the 
harpoon;  the  objects  made  and  used  by  them  hardly  amount  to 
one  hundred  items.  Most  of  their  manufactured  articles  are  so 
simple  and  so  easily  replaced  that  little  care  is  taken  to  preserve 
them.  The  weapons,  tools,  and  other  slight  property  of  a  given 
individual  may  be  used  by  his  relatives ;  such  important  articles 
as  a  cooking  pot,  a  canoe,  or  a  sounding  board  (used  for  marking 
time  in  the  dance) ,  when  the  owner  is  not  using  them,  are  "looked 
upon  somewhat  in  the  light  of  public  property  by  members  of  the 
same  community." 

In  the  possession  of  a  knowledge  of  simple  forms  of  pottery 
they  are  superior  to  the  Australians,  Tasmanians,  and  Fuegiaiis. 
The  middens  prove,  moreover,  that  this  knowledge  is  by  no  means 
limited  to  recent  times.  Pots  are  made  by  the  layer-and-scraping 
method.  Designs  (plant  and  animal  forms  are  never  imitated) 
are  scratched  on  with  a  stick.  The  Andamanese  are  still  in  the 
stone  age.  Natural  forms  of  stones  and  shells  are  used  as  tools ; 
shaped  implements  are  of  the  simplest.  Iron  they  now  secure 
from  the  British  penal  colony  at  Port  Blair,  but  their  only  method 
of  working  it  is  by  hammering  cold  pieces.  Basketry  and  the 
weaving  of  mats  are  understood,  but  only  in  simple  patterns; 
leather  work  is  unknown. 

Of  the  mental  capacity  of  the  Andamanese  it  may  be  said 
that  in  youth  a  certain  precocity  is  displayed  under  foreign 
instruction,  but  in  its  natural,  untutored  state  the  intellect  is 
largely  dormant.  A  curious,  inventive  race  the  Andamanese  are 
not,  but  among  them  are  individuals  of  penetrative  mind,  strong 
will,  and  vivid  imagination.  As  a  people  they  "care  little  for 
abstract  ideas  and  their  life  is  absorbed  in  their  material  wants 
and  pleasures,  regarding  which  they  generally  converse.  If  you 
see  a  number  of  Andamanese  collected  about  one  who  is  telling 
a  story,  you  find  that  story  to  be  nearly  always  about  a  pig  or 
turtle  hunt.  They  seem  never  to  tire  of  hearing  these  stories, 
though  there  is  a  great  sameness  about  them  (like  English  fox- 
hunters  discussing  their  '  runs ' ) ,  and  the  stories  are  related  with 
much  acting  and  gesture."1 
s  M.  V.  Portman,  op.  cit.,  p.  32. 


1922]  Hurts:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  89 

Considerable  interest  and  a  spirit  of  emulation  are  displayed 
in  making  weapons  and  other  articles.  Hour  after  hour  may 
be  spent  by  the  natives  in  the  persevering,  monotonous  toil  of 
shaping  arrow  heads  and  spear  heads  to  suit  their  taste,  or  in 
improving  the  curve  of  a  bow,  even  when  there  is  no  necessity, 
immediate  or  prospective,  to  act  as  a  stimulus.  Yet  they  do  not 
preserve  weapons  and  utensils  of  superior  workmanship  for 
private  use :  they  frequently  make  presents  of  the  best  that  they 


They  have  no  writing  of  any  sort,  no  signs  or  tallies,  no 
recognized  standards  of  weights  and  measures.  Their  only  spe- 
cific numerals  are  one  and  two.  Beyond  "two"  the  idea  of 
quantity  is  exceedingly  vague,  though  the  more  intelligent,  by 
using  fingers  and  nose  as  counters,  manage  to  indicate  specific 
numbers  up  to  ten.  Their  geographical  knowledge,  until  the 
advent  of  the  British,  was  entirely  local.  They  knew  nothing 
of  the  coast  of  Burma,  let  alone  the  rest  of  the  world.  Voyagers 
who  from  time  to  time  came  to  their  shores  were  regarded  as  the 
spirits  of  deceased  ancestors  returning  from  some  small  neigh- 
boring island  of  the  dead  to  visit  former  haunts  and  friends. 

They  delight  in  multiplying  terms  to  designate  the  various 
aspects  of  life  in  which  they  are  interested.  Thirteen  periods 
of  day  and  night  are  distinguished .  and  named ;  three  main 
seasons  and  twenty  minor  seasons  (named  after  trees  which 
flower  in  succession),  four  phases  of  each  lunation,  the  four 
points  of  the  compass,  four  winds,  and  three  kinds  of  clouds  are 
recognized.  Of  their  language  something  is  said  below. 

Of  Andamanese  superstitions,  myths,  and  legends  I  have  not 
space  to  speak.  Suffice  to  say  that  the  superstitions  are  simple, 
the  expression  of  a  timorous,  childlike,  and  good-hearted  people ; 
not  particularly  numerous  or  ' '  suggestive  of  an  insane  asylum ' ' ; 
etiological  and  animistic  in  character;  most  of  them  easily  to 
be  accounted  for  as  natural  reactions  to  experience.  Conduct 


*E.  H.  Man,  "On  the  Aboriginal  Inhabitants  of  the  Andaman  Islands" 
in  The  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
XII,  94. 


90         University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

is  shaped  according  to  the  warnings  and  advice  received  in 
dreams.  Certain  individuals  who  are  prolific  of  dreams  are 
credited  with  supernatural  power  (cf.  Song  X,  below).  There 
are  no  forms  of  worship,  no  religious  rites ;  there  is  no  devotion 
to  trees,  stones,  celestial  bodies,  or  other  objects;  but  a  rather 
complete  etiology  of  creation,  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  of  the 
larger  aspects  of  nature,  of  life,  death,  and  resurrection,  of  fire 
and  the  arts  has  been  developed.  The  creating  agent  is  an  im- 
mortal being,  Puluga,  who  is  like  fire,  but  is  now  invisible.  He 
created  everything  except  the  evil  spirits.  He  lives  in  a  large 
stone  house  in  the  sky,  with  a  wife  whom  he  made  for  himself. 
He  is  omniscient  during  the  day;  he  eats  and  drinks  and  sleeps 
much  during  the  dry  season,  but  when  he  is  angry  he  comes  out 
of  his  house  and  growls  and  blows  and  hurls  burning  faggots. 
He  has  many  children,  but  only  one  son.  The  stories  told  about 
him  show  Christian  influence. 

From  these  facts  concerning  the  Andamanese  and  their  way 
of  living,  certain  inferences  which  have  an  important  bearing 
upon  the  study  of  their  poetry  may  be  drawn.  Andamanese 
culture,  certainly,  is  not  "rising,"  or  "mounting";  it  shows  no 
vitality  in  expanding  to  meet  new  demands.  The  race  is  dis- 
appearing. On  the  other  hand,  such  evidence  as  we  have  of  its 
past  indicates  that  this  culture  has  always  been  so  simple,  so 
close  to  an  irreducible  minimum,  that  there  has  been  little  op- 
portunity for  the  loss  of  significant  characteristics.  We  are 
therefore  justified,  or,  at  least,  fairly  well  justified,  in  regarding 
both  the  material  and  intellectual  features  of  this  culture  as  the 
products  of  a  very  simple  ~but  not  decadent  state  of  savagery.5 
In  turn,  then,  we  may  infer  that  the  rhythmic  utterances  of  the 
Andamanese  illustrate  at  least  one  sort  of  poetry  that  is  produced 
at  an  early  stage  of  man 's  development. 


s  This  remark  is  limited  to  the  culture  described  in  this  article,  i.e.,  to 
the  culture  as  observed  by  Man  and  Portman.  What  may  have  become 
of  the  Andamanese  in  the  last  twenty  years  is  another  matter. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  91 

ANDAMANESE  POETEY 

The  narrow  consciousness  of  the  Andamanese,  the  simpleness 
and  limited  range  of  their  mental  processes,  and  most  of  their 
chief  interests,  are  reflected  in  the  content  and  form  of  their 
songs.  They  sing  most  frequently  of  the  exciting  events  of  their 
daily  life — pig  hunting,  fishing,  travels  and  incidental  adven- 
tures, and  fighting ;  and  there  are  many  songs  about  the  making 
of  weapons,  boats,  and  other  objects.  Both  Man  and  Portman 
testify  that  the  Andaman  islanders  have  no  reflective,  religious, 
or  love  lyrics ;  their  ' '  nursery ' '  songs  seem  to  be  limited  to  lull- 
abies. Portman  definitely  states  that  legends  are  not  transmitted 
in  rhythmical  form,  but  Man  speaks  of  songs  "connected  with 
myths"  (presumably  incidental  lyrics)  and  of  magical  songs. 
Special  ceremonial  or  rite  compositions  are  lacking:  differenti- 
ation of  performance  at  ceremonial  occasions,  if  there  is  any,  is 
limited  to  the  dance. 

But  the  songs  that  are  built  about  the  events  of  daily  life 
are  very  numerous  in  spite  of  the  limited  number  of  subjects. 
Every  one  composes.  A  man  who  could  not  make  a  song  would 
be  looked  down  upon.  Even  children  have  their  own  songs. 
Women  occasionally  make  and  sing  lyrics,  which,  though  hardly 
equal  in  power,  are  yet  similar  in  every  way  to  those  made  by 
men.  Each  person  sings  his  own  song.  To  sing  the  song  of 
another  is  a  breach  of  etiquette  that  may  lead  to  a  fight,  but 
after  the  death  of  a  man  his  songs  may  be  sung  by  another 
member  of  his  tribe.  When  a  man  wishes  to  make  a  new  song, 
"he  waits  till  he  feels  inspired  to  do  so,  and  will  then,  when 
alone  and  engaged  in  some  occupation,  sing  to  himself  until  he 
has  hit  on  a  solo  and  refrain  which  take  his  fancy."  He  tries 
his  song  over  and  over  again,  carefully  improving  it  to  his  taste. 
For  several  days,  indeed,  in  some  secluded  spot  of  the  jungle  or 
the  shore  where  he  is  fashioning  a  weapon  or  hollowing  out  a 
canoe  the  composer  may  continue  to  repeat  and  reshape  his  song. 
Portman  emphatically  asserts  that  this  is  the  method  of  compo- 
sition ;  he  maintains  that  statements  which  stress  an  impromptu 
method  are  erroneous. 


92         University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

Regarding  the  origin  of  this  habit  of  composing  songs  the 
Andamanese  have  no  traditions.  They  believe  that  "the  'An- 
cestors' from  time  immemorial  used  to  compose  and  sing  songs 
similar  in  rhythm  and  subject  to  those  composed  to-day.  .  .  . 
As  songs  by  composers  who  have  been  distinguished  men  are 
sung  by  others  of  their  tribe  after  their  death,  we  thus  get  a 
few  so-called  ancient  songs,  which,  however,  are  not  really  very 
old,  and  are  of  little  value,  not  being  different  from  the  ordinary 
songs  of  the  present  day."8  There  is  no  evidence  of  communal 
composition. 

Let  us  return  to  the  composer.  When  he  is  satisfied  with  his 
solo  and  refrain  he  sings  them  at  the  campfire,  where  the  vil- 
lagers are  collected  for  their  nightly  dance.  If  his  composition 
catches  the  popular  ear  he  may  repeat  it  on  other  evenings,  and 
may  even  keep  it  in  mind  to  be  sung  at  some  future  jeg,  or 
congregation  of  several  tribes  for  entertainment.  "The  singer 
chosen  to  repeat  his  song  at  such  an  occasion  gains  lasting  recog- 
nition for  his  accomplishment."  Songs  are  occasionally  sung 
at  other  times  and  places,  by  small  companies,  but  without  the 
accompaniment  of  dance.  The  usual  time  is  the  evening;  the 
usual  place,  the  hard-tamped  bulum  (dancing  ground)  near  the 
campfire. 

At  one  end  of  the  bulum  the  composer  takes  his  place,  his 
foot  resting  on  the  sounding  board,  ready  to  beat  out  the  time 
for  the  dance.  Amid  general  silence  he  sings  his  solo,  very  likely 
in  a  falsetto.  Then  his  voice  drops  an  octave  as  he  delivers  the 
refrain.  If  the  listeners  catch  the  refrain  they  sing  it  at  once, 
but  if  not,  the  soloist  repeats  it  two  or  three  times  until  they 
are  able  to  sing  it  in  chorus.  "The  dance  commences  with  the 
refrain  being  accompanied  by  a  clapping  of  hands  and  thighs, 
and  the  stamping  of  the  soloist's  foot  on  the  sounding  board.  The 

e  M.  V.  Portman,  op.  cit.,  p.  166.  Portman  does  not  state  in  detail  how 
he  collected  the  songs  printed  below,  nor  does  he  inform  us  whether  any 
of  them  are  ' '  old. ' '  But  we  know  that  he  got  them  direct  from  the 
natives.  There  is  no  indication  in  them  of  foreign  (European  or  Asiatic) 
influence. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  93 


time  of  this  clapping  and  stamping  is 


but  the  time  marked  by  the  stamping  of  the  dancers'  feet  is 
1    1     jJ     JJ==    After  the  refrain  has  been  repeated  about  ten 

times  the  chorus  pause  to  take  breath,  but  the  clapping  of  hands 
and  thighs  and  the  stamping  on  the  sounding  board  continue; 
when  the  chorus  have  recovered  their  breath  they  again  repeat 
the  refrain  about  ten  times.  The  soloist  will  then  repeat  the 
song,  and  the  refrain  will  be  taken  up  again  as  before ;  and  this 
may  be  repeated  as  many  as  six  times,  if  the  song  has  been  sung 
before  and  is  known ;  when,  if  it  has  been  a  success,  the  soloist 
sings  a  line  which  appears  to  be  meaningless,  and  the  chorus 
answers  with  another  line,  also  meaningless,  which  is  sung  once, 
and  the  time  beats  then  alter  to  a  confused  rattle,  and  the  song 
ends.  If  it  has  not  been  approved,  it  will  die  away  after  one  or 
two  repetitions  and  this  peculiar  ending  will  not  be  given.  .  .  . 
At  the  conclusion  of  a  song  the  same  soloist  may  sing  another 
song  under  the  same  conditions  as  the  first,  or  he  may  be  relieved 
by  another  soloist.  Such  songs  and  dances,  with  changes  of 
soloist,  are  kept  up  all  night.  The  work  of  the  soloist  is  hard, 
as  besides  singing  he  has  to  give  the  time  by  stamping  on  the 
sounding  board,  but  the  position  is  a  proud  one. ' n 

Portman  also  observes  that  if  the  soloist  in  the  middle  of  his 
performance  happens  to  forget  his  lines  he  repeats  two  or  three 
words,  ' '  having  regard  to  time  and  tune  only  and  not  in  the  least 
to  sense,"  until  the  rest  comes  to  mind.  The  music,  consisting 
of  monotonous  phrases  of  two  or  three  notes,  lends  itself  to  this 
universal  device  of  the  "stumped"  reciter.  It  is  also  interesting 
to  learn  that  the  Andamanese  have  no  method  of  taking  breath 
in  a  song,  and  that  a  soloist  who  loses  his  breath  in  the  middle 
of  a  long,  agglutinative  compound  upon  recovering  begins  a 
word  or  two  back  of  the  one  where  he  stopped,  so  that  he  may 
not  spoil  the  rln^thm !  Under  these  conditions  it  is  easy  to  under- 


7  M.  V.  Portman,  op.  cit.,  pp.  167-168. 


94         University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

stand  how  a  solo  may  be  prolonged  by  repetition  of  phrases,  quite 
regardless  of  the  meaning.  "Andamanese  songs,"  says  Port- 
man,  ' '  occasionally  remind  me  of  Mr.  Gilbert 's  motto  on  the  title 
page  of  the  Bab  Ballads,  '  Much  sound  and  little  sense. '  ' 

Men,  women,  and  children  join  in  the  chorus.  According  to 
one  authority,  the  men  sing  in  unison,  some  women  and  the 
children  in  falsetto,  and  the  rest  of  the  women  in  a  minor  sixth 
above  the  men.  No  indication  of  the  subject  of  a  song  is  given 
by  the  rhythm,  accent,  or  intonation  of  delivery,  and  if  the  ob- 
server has  not  a  knowledge  of  the  language  he  is  quite  unable 
to  guess  what  is  being  described.  Gesticulation  and  acting  are 
not  accompaniments  of  song,  though  they  constitute  the  chief 
part  of  story  telling. 

"The  formal  construction  of  all  Andamanese  songs  is  the 
same,  though  the  subject  differs."  To  a  short  solo  (seldom  more 
than  five  "lines,"  and  generally  only  three)  succeeds  a  brief 
refrain,  which  is  usually  a  mere  repetition  of  the  last  ' '  line ' '  or 
of  its  concluding  words.  The  refrain  may  begin  in  the  middle 
of  a  "word."  No  attempt  will  be  made  in  this  sketch  to  analyze 
in  detail  the  construction  (line  length,  rhythm,  accents,  assonance, 
rhyme,  etc.)  of  solo  and  refrain,  but  it  should  be  noted  that  mean- 
ing, grammatical  form,  and  syntax  are  frequently  sacrificed  to 
rhythm,  especially  in  the  refrain.  Indeed,  to  satisfy  his  sense 
of  rhythm  the  composer  may  so  mutilate  his  words  that  he  is 
obliged  to  explain  the  refrain  to  his  audience.  Man,  however, 
appears  to  magnify  the  amount  of  poetic  license;  or,  rather, 
what  he  says  on  this  point  applies  primarily  to  the  refrain. 
Portman  maintains,  with  reason,  that  the  construction  of  the 
sentences  in  Andamanese  poetry  is  much  the  same  as  in  ordinary 
conversation,  that  the  roots  are  altered  very  little,  and  that,  in 
general,  only  the  suffixes  and  prefixes  are  omitted  and  altered 
as  the  rhythm  requires.  A  poetic  dialect  can  hardly  be  said  to 
exist,  though  certain  roots  appear  in  poetry  which  do  not  often 
occur  in  ordinary  speech.  Man's  statement  that  a  distinct  poetic 
dialect  does  exist  is  based  upon  a  misconception  either  of  what 
a  poetic  dialect  is  or  of  the  nature  of  Andamanese  poetic  license. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  95 

Of  the  brief,  abrupt,  and  allusive  character  of  the  lyrics  of 
the  Andamanese  an  example  has  already  been  given.  Like  other 
primitive  poets,  an  Andamanese  in  composing  a  song  is  prone 
to  utter  emotion  without  indicating  its  stimulus,  to  describe  an 
action  without  explaining  its  cause  or  purpose,  and,  in  general, 
to  express  himself  so  obliquely  that  only  a  native,  and  not  always 
even  he,  can  be  sure  of  the  meaning  of  the  composition.  More 
often  than  not  the  real  motive  of  a  lyric,  the  reason  for  its 
existence,  is  hid  in  the  assumptions  and  associations  upon  which 
the  song  is  built,  in  the  inferences  the  native  audience  will  draw, 
in  situations  their  imagination  will  supply, — in  allusions  and  im- 
plications quite  beyond  the  power  of  an  outsider  to  understand. 
The  inclination  to  express  one's  feeling  without  explaining  its 
source  we  have  all  experienced,  and  therefore  we  can  appreciate 
the  abruptness  of  these  lyrics,  especially  after  some  one  has  ex- 
plained the  implied  idea  or  adventure!  We  must  remember, 
too,  if  our  sympathy  is  to  be  complete,  that  the  experiences  which 
are  the  source  and  setting  of  our  native's  emotions  are  so  limited 
in  number  and  so  frequently  the  subject  of  song  and  story  that 
there  is  no  need  whatever  of  specifying  them  for  an  Andamanese 
audience.  In  most  of  the  pig  hunting,  turtle  hunting,  and 
dugong  fishing  songs  that  are  given  below,  for  example,  there  is 
no  mention  of  pig,  or  turtle,  or  dugong.  From  the  way  a  song 
begins,  from  some  descriptive  touch,  or  from  the  nature  of  its 
emotional  appeal,  the  audience  soon  divines  that  it  is  another 
of  the  countless  but  to  them  always  interesting  songs  of  this, 
that,  or  the  other  kind  of  sport. 

But  the  Andamanese  lyric,  however  confused  it  may  become 
in  delivery,  however  abrupt  it  may  be  in  method,  is  far  from 
failing  to  be  an  aesthetically  adequate  expression  of  human  feel- 
ing. The  songs  are  natural  and  realistic  in  their  appeal,  smooth 
and  sure  in  technique.  The  selected  details  are  invariably  vivid 
and  significant.  The  composer's  art  is  equal  to  his  theme, — 
powerful  to  excite  emotion  and  discharge  it,  and  easily  capable 
of  controlling  and  shaping  his  subject  in  a  unified  but  varied 
pattern.  Repetition  is  the  device  that  secures  unity,  but  in 


96          University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

almost  every  song  this  repetition  is  modified  by  slight  omissions 
or  additions,  and  accented  by  syllables  like  the  ballad  0,  or  by 
lyric  exclamations,  which  are  musically  or  emotionally  appro- 
priate. In  these  primitive  lyrics  there  is  nothing  of  immaturity 
in  technique,  of  crude  fumbling,  of  archaic  stiffness.  With 
their  easy  expressiveness  and  stimulating  vigor,  with  their  swing 
and  point,  they  make  us  forget  that  they  are  the  songs  of  some 
of  the  most  primitive  of  savages.  They  touch  us  as  human  and 
modern,  and  with  a  certain  surprise  we  put  aside  the  prejudices 
of  civilization  to  realize  anew  the  identity  of  the  human  spirit. 

THE  ANDAMANESE  LANGUAGE 

This  is  not  the  place  for  a  detailed  account  of  the  language 
of  the  Andamanese,  but  a  brief  statement  of  some  of  its  more 
important  principles  will  be  of  material  assistance  in  studying 
the  songs  given  below.  Each  of  the  twelve  tribes  speaks  a  dialect, 
and  some  of  these  dialects  are  more  closely  related  than  others. 
The  South  Andaman  group  of  tribes,  which  is  the  group  with 
which  we  are  concerned,  is  composed  of  the  Aka-Bea-da,  the 
Akar-Bdle,  the  Piichikwdrft'h.Q  Aukau-Juwoi,  and  the  Kol.  Their 
dialects  are  sufficiently  different  to  make  an  interchange  of  ideas 
difficult.  The  vocabulary  is  comparatively  copious;  E.  H.  Man's 
dictionary  contains  over  six  thousand  words  and  M.  V.  Port- 
man  's  comparative  vocabulary  of  the  five  dialects  2286  words. 
Abstract  terms  are  rare,  but  there  is  a  profusion  of  names  for 
objects  and  for  their  parts,  qualities,  and  conditions. 

The  general  principle  of  word  composition  is  agglutination. 
To  roots,  which  have  more  or  less  definite  meanings  but  are  not 
inflected,  are  added  prefixes  and  suffixes.  These,  with  a  certain 
exception,  occur  only  in  combination  with  the  roots,  and  the 
latter  are  not  split  for  the  insertion  of  infixes.  To  distinguish 
roots  from  affixes  I  have  followed  Portman's  device  of  printing 
the  former  in  italics. 

Roots  may  be  divided  into  five  groups: 

(1)  Names  of  parts  of  the  body,  with  especial  reference  to 
the  human  body ;  roots  referring  to  the  human  race  generally. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  97 

(2)  Names  of  other  natural  animate  or  inanimate  objects, 
incapable  of  being  converted  into  " adjectives"  or  " verbs." 

(3)  Roots  which,  being  substantives,  may  be  used  as  "adjec- 
tives," or  converted  into  "verbs"  by  suffixes. 

(4)  Pronouns. 

(5)  Postpositions,  adverbs,  conjunctions,  exclamations,  proper 
names,  honorific  names,  and  particles. 

In  general,  the  prefixes  particularize  the  meaning  of  the  root 
by  relating  it  to  some  object  or  quality,  and  some  of  them  have 
a  pronominal  function.  Thus  the  root  eld,8  which  appears  to 
have  the  sense  of  "pouring  water,"  may  be  modified  as  follows: 
sib-ela,  to  wash  another  person 's  body  by  pouring  water  upon  it ; 
ad-efo,  to  wash  one 's  own  body  by  pouring  water  upon  it ;  akan- 
ela,  to  fill  one 's  mouth  with  water ;  'en-ela,  to  tell  another  person 
to  fill  something  with  water ;  aian-efo,  to  fill  the  ears  with  water ; 
ig-efo,  to  put  a  fire  out  by  pouring  water  upon  it;  6ng-ela,  to 
throw  water  with  the  hands,  i.e.,  to  splash ;  6t-ela,  to  throw  away 
(as  to  bale  water  out  of  a  boat) .  It  is  difficult  to  assign  a  precise 
meaning  to  each  prefix,  for  the  Andamanese  themselves  have  very 
vague  ideas  on  the  subject.  But  ab-  seems  to  refer  to  human 
bodies  and  to  be  used  of  something  done  by  one  person  to  another ; 
ad-  refers  to  that  which  is  done  of  one 's  own  accord ;  akan-  refers 
to  the  mouth,  to  speech ;  'en-  has  the  force  of  a  pronominal  dative ; 
aian-  refers  to  the  ears  or  hearing;  ong-  or  on-,  to  the  hand  or 
foot ;  6t-,  to  round  things,  the  head,  etc. 

With  reference  to  roots  in  group  (1) — names  of  parts  of  the 
body,  etc. — certain  prefixes  have  a  special  function.  The  parts 
of  the  human  body  are  divided  into  several  classes.  Thus,  one 
class  consists  of  head,  brains,  neck,  heart,  etc. ;  another  of  hand, 
wrist,  knuckle,  nail,  foot,  ankle,  etc.  For  each  of  these  classes 
there  is  a  special  prefix :  6t-  for  the  head-heart  class,  on-  for  the 
hand-ankle  class,  and  so  on.  But  these  prefixes  do  not  modify 
the  meaning  of  the  root ;  they  have  a  third-person  pronominal 
force,  to  signify  which  Portman  prints  before  them  the  sign  of 

8  All  examples  are  in  Aka-Uea-da;  tense  suffixes  are  omitted  in  the 
examples  given  above. 


98         University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

the  possessive  case:  thus,  'ot-longotd-da?  means  "his"  or  "her" 
neck;  'on-kduro-da,,  "his"  or  "her"  hand.  Unlike  the  ordinary 
prefixes,  these  pronominal  prefixes  have  singular  and  plural 
forms,  for  they  are  really  possessive  pronouns  in  the  third  person 
joined  to  the  ordinary  prefixes,  and  the  pronouns  alone  of  all 
the  roots  have  plural  suffixes.  Thus,  "their  necks"  would  be 
'otot-longotd-da, ;  "their  hands,"  'oiot-kduro-da. 

Prefixes  are  not  attached  directly  to  the  roots  of  group  (2). 
The  name  of  a  certain  tree,  for  example,  is  &eZa-da;  the  word 
for  "bow,"  kdrama-da.  But  to  a  succeeding  adjective  or  root 
may  be  attached  a  prefix  that  bears  upon  the  quality  of  the 
previous  root.  Thus  the  word  for  "sponge,"  a  root  of  group 
(2),  does  not  itself  take  a  prefix,  but  an  adjective  following  it, 
say  "soft,"  assumes  the  prefix  6t-,  which  is  used  with  round 
things,  hence  with  "sponge."  To  roots  of  group  (3)  the  ordi- 
nary prefixes  are  added,  and  the  original,  or  general,  meanings 
of  the  roots  are  modified  thereby,  as  illustrated  above.  The  roots 
of  group  (4),  i.e.,  the  pronouns,  may  be  prefixed  to  the  prefixes 
of  other  roots,  and  when  this  occurs  the  pronoun  is  abbreviated. 
Thus,  doZ-la,10  "I,"  and  dm-da,  "my,"  become  d'  before  a  prefix 
(d'ot,  eTong,  etc.;  d'ot-longotd^da,  "my  neck").  The  pronouns 
take  special  forms  for  different  tenses  of  the  verb  (see  below, 
song  VIII,  note  5).  Roots  in  group  (5)  do  not  carry  prefixes. 

The  primary  function  of  the  suffixes  is  grammatical.  All 
roots,  for  example,  which  carry  the  English  functions  of  noun 
or  adjective  take  the  suffix  -da,  when  used  alone,  or  at  the  end 
of  a  compound  word  or  the  close  of  a  sentence.  The  honorific 
suffix  is  -la;  the  vocative,  -la  or  -16.  Other  suffixes,  signifying 
time,  are  added  to  roots  of  group  (3)  when  the  latter  are  used 
as  verbs.  Thus  -re  is  used  for  the  perfect  tense,  -ka  for  the 
imperfect,  -ke  for  the  present  or  future,  and  -nga  for  the  present 
participle  or  verbal  substantive. 


»  The  -da  is  the  noun  suffix. 

1°  -la,  euphonic  change  for  -da,  the  noun  suffix. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  99 

POKTMAN'S  ALPHABET 

a  is  short,  as  u  in  cut. 

a  is  short,  as  a  in  fathom. 

a  is  long,  as  a  in  father. 

e  is  a  very  short  e. 

e  is  short,  as  e  in  bed. 

e  is  long,  as  a  in  lame. 

i  is  short,  as  i  in  lid. 

i  is  long,  as  i  in  police. 

o  is  short,  as  o  in  dog. 

6  is  a  little  longer,  as  o  in  indolent. 

6  is  long,  as  o  in  pole. 

u  is  of  medium  length,  as  u  in  influence. 

u  is  very  long,  as  oo  in  pool. 

ai  is  like  i  in  bite. 

ao  is  like  ow  in  row. 

au  is  like  aw  in  awful. 

61  is  like  oi  in  boil. 

11  is  like  gn  in  gagner. 

ng  is  like  ng  in  ringer. 

6  is  like  o  in  schon. 

ch  is  like  ch  in  child. 

g  is  like  g  in  gain. 

Other  consonants  are  sounded  as  in  English. 

Every  letter  is  pronounced.  Roots  are  printed  in  italics.  A 
line  is  placed  under  a  syllable  to  show  that  the  accent  falls  upon 
it.  In  all  words  not  so  marked  the  stress  should  be  placed  upon 
the  first  syllable. 


100       University  of  California  Publi<xitions  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 


TWELVE  ANDAMANESE  SONGS 


AUKAU-/C7JFO/1  PIG-HUNT  SONG    NO.  1 

When  there  is  a  scarcity  of  other  food  the  Andamanese  collect 
cockles  (Cyrena).  The  singer  means  to  say  that  since  there  is 
nothing  else  to  eat  today  the  villagers  must  pick  up  all  the  cockles 
they  can  find.  He  also  implies  that  he  will  go  pig-hunting.  Or 
perhaps  he  speaks  disdainfully:  "Oh,  go  ahead,  then,  and  pick 
up  your  cockles.  That  fellow  is  mighty  quick  about  getting  them 
home!  But  as  for  me,  I  shall  go  pig-hunting!" 

It  wiU  ~be  observed  that  the  composer  leaves  much  to  the  imagi- 
nation of  his  audience  and  that  in  the  poem  no  mention  is  made 
of  the  real  subject — the  pig-hunt.  Such  omissions  are  character- 
istic of  all  these  Andamanese  songs,  as  has  been  explained  above. 


Solo: 


Koi* 

All  right, 

rad/c,3 

go, 

taule-\& 

cockles 

not-6,5 

pick  up, 

not-6, 

pick  up, 

Mdk, 

tdule-le 

not-6. 

Go, 

cockles 

pick  up. 

A 

e'-la6 

m'ra7 

karma8 

chowe-le»        a,10 

He 

took 

our 

quickly 

hut         ,              he. 

Kefrain 
A 

He 


e'-la 

took 


m'ra 

our 


karma 

quickly 


chowe-le, 

hut 


a. 

he. 


Translation : 

All  right !    Go,  cockles  pick  up,  pick  up, 

Go,  cockles  pick  up. 

He  took  the  cockles  home  quickly,  he  did. 
He  took  the  cockles  home  quickly,  he  did. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  101 

1.  A  tribe  dwelling  in  the  southern  half,  mostly  in  the  interior,  of 
Middle  Andaman  Island.     Of  the  five  related  languages  studied  by  Port- 
man    that    of    the    Auktm-Juwoi    stands    apart.      The    meaning    of    the 
name  is  obscure,  but  is  said  to  be,  "They  cut  patterns  on  their  bows." 
Aukau-  is  a  prefix  and  may  serve  to  signify  that  the  action  named  in  the 
root  is  performed  upon  wood  (of  the  bow);  cf.  aukau-cM,  in  which  the 
root  chii  means  to  burn  and  the  prefix  indicates  the  sort  of  article  burnt, 
viz.,  wood — hence,  ' '  ignite. ' '     Juwoi  does  not  at  all  resemble  the  words 
for  "cut,"  "carve,"  "make,"  "bow,"  etc.,  and  Portman  does  not  give 
an  equivalent  for  ' '  pattern "   or   "  design. ' '     The   Andamanese  have  a 
tradition  that  the  various  tribal  names  were  assigned  by  a  great  chief, 
Mala  Tomol-la,  when  a  deluge  dispersed  the  ancestral  race  into  the  dif- 
ferent territories  now  occupied  by  the  tribes. 

2.  Koi,  P,11  come;  more  properly,  go,  go  away;  come  is  e4.    Koi  seems 
here  to  be  an  imperative  used  with  the  force  of  the  exclamatory  koi 
(="Very  well;  go!  " — spoken  with  a  lift  of  the  chin).    I  have  ventured 
to  render  it  by  our  colloquial  "All  right!" 

3.  mdk,  P,  you;  but  male  does  not  resemble  the  forms  for  pronouns  of 
the  second  person  as  given  by  P  in  his  grammar  and  vocabulary.     On 
the  other  hand,  mdk  occurs  as  the  root  in  expressions  meaning  abandon, 
let  go,  "leave"  go,  release,  unloose.     Possibly,  therefore,  mdk  may  here 
be  an  abbreviated  form  for  "go,"  or  "let  him  go"  (the  "him"  of  the 
refrain?),   and  P,   as  he  has  certainly   done   elsewhere,   may  have  here 
preferred  not  to  render  an  emphatic  doubling  of  an  idea  ("Go!"  in  Koi 
and  mdk)  because  he  finds  the  tautology  objectionable.     Instead,  he  has 
inserted  a  "you"  which  does  not  appear  in  the  original  so  far  as  I  can  see. 

4.  tdule-]e,  Cyrena,  or  cockles.     The  -le  is  either  a  meaningless  syllable 
added  for  rhythm's  sake,  or,  more  probably,  an  abbreviation  of  the  noun- 
suffix  -lekile,  which  is  dropped  within  the  sentence  or  "clause"  except  at 
the  end  of  a  compound  word  (P,  p.  84).    Tattle  may  be  a  compound  (cf.  P, 
p.  228). 

5.  -6  is,  perhaps,  a  vocative  suffix  (cf.  P,  p.  36) ;  but  it  should  be  noted 
that  the  -6's  at  the  end  of  the  first  and  second  lines  are  echoed  by  the 
final  a  of  the  third  line. 

6.  e-la,  P,  by.     This,  I  believe,  is  a  good  sample  of  P's  misleading 
versions,     e  means  "to  take"  (see  P's  vocabulary)  and  though  P  in  his 
interlinear  translation  places  "by"  under  e-la,  yet  in  his  free  translation 
he  inserts  a  verb — "He  took  home  the  cockles  quickly."     The  Andamanese 
do  not  express  agency  by  a  preposition  or  an  inflected  form  of  the  noun 
or  pronoun;   hence  P  is  careful  to  insert  "by,"  but  careless  where  he 
inserts  it.     The   suffix   -la  I   cannot   account  for.     It  is   not   among  the 
perfect-tense,  or  imperfect-tense,  suffixes.     Is  it  an  addition  for  the  sake 
of  the  rhythm? 


P"  designates  Portman 's  translation. 


102       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

7.  m'ra,  P,  m  Yd,  we.    Perhaps  the  better  form  is  the  possessive  ' { our, ' ' 
composed  of  m',  an  abbreviated  form  of  the  first  person  plural  pronoun, 
and  the  prefix  ra-.     The  word  is  probably  to  be  understood  as  meaning 
"our  place"  or  "hut,"  hence,  "home,?'  as  P  translates. 

8.  Tcarma,  P,  quickly,  is  probably  a  shortened  form.    In  his  vocabulary 
P  gives  ra-jdra  for  "quickly."     I  can  find  no  synonym  for  "quickly" 
that  resembles  karma. 

9.  chowe-le,  perhaps  a  shortened  or  otherwise  changed  form  for  chong- 
lekile  (cliong,  hut;  -lekile,  noun  suffix). 

10.  a,  he,  coming  at  the  end  of  a  sentence,  would  naturally  have  the 
noun  suffix  -lekile;  the  latter  has  probably  been  dropped  for  the  sake  of 
rhythm.     The  force  of  the  "he"  at  the  end  of  the  sentence  reminds  us 
of  our  colloquial  ' '  He  went  home,  he  did. ' ' 


II 


AUKAU-/E/TF07  PIG-HUNT  SONG,  NO.  2. 

This  song  explains  why  a  hunter  has  returned  without  any 
wild  pig.  The  singer,  in  simple  ~but  vivid  make-believe,  assumes 
that  he  is  still  out  hunting,  and  he  complains,  ~by  way  of  excusing 
his  failure  and  exciting  the  sympathy  of  his  audience,  that  the 
beetles  and  cicadas  are  making  such  a  noise  in  the  jungle  that  his 
ears  are  buzzing  and  he  cannot  hear  the  sound  of  the  pigs. 


Solo: 


Lelmo-le1  t'ebe2-t'r&-t'rdpo,3 

Lelmo  beetles  my       -much-     rough, 

Jirmdu-le*        £'ebe-t'ra-£Vapo-a,5 

Cicadas  my  -much-   rough-   O, 


6        K-a.7 

My     -much-    rough-  O,  buzzing-O. 

Refrain  : 

T  'ebe-t  'ra-f  'rdpo-i,        K-a. 

My     -much-     rough-O,         buzzing-O. 

Translation  : 

By  beetles  my  ears  are  rasped, 
By  cicadas  my  ears  are  rasped  0. 
My  ears  are  rasped  0  and  buzzing  0. 
My  ears  are  rasped  0  and  buzzing  0. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  103 

1.  For  -le  see  above,  I,  note  4.     Lelmo  (possibly  a  compound?)  is  the 
name  for  a  kind  of  beetle. 

2.  t'ebe,  P,  me.    The  form  is  a  combination  of  the  "simple"  pronoun 
of  the  first  person  singular,  M-le,  with  the  prefix  ebe-,  t'  being  the  ab- 
breviated form  of  the  pronoun  used  before  prefixes.     This  combination 
has  the  force  of  the  possessive  pronoun  of  the  first  person,  and  therefore, 
I  would  suggest,  probably  has  the  force  of  ' '  my  ears, "  as  I  have  indicated 
in  the  free  translation.    For  the  form  see  P,  pp.  35,  37,  60,  61,  66,  389. 

3.  t  'ebe-t 'ra-* 'rdpo,  P,  me-deafen.    A  compound  word  or  phrase:  t'ebe-, 
as  just  explained,  my  (ears);  t'ra-,  a  conjunctional  modifying  infix   (P, 
p.  84);  t'rapo,  probably  related  to  t'rdpe,  rough,  as  of  bark  (P,  p.  135). 
I  venture  to  suggest,  therefore,  that  the  literal  sense  of  the  compound  is, 
My  (ears)  rough,  i.e.,  beetles  (by)  my  (ears)   rough  (are) — whence  P's 
"Me-deafen."     It  may  be   suggested  that  t'ra-  is  a  case  of  emphatic 
duplication  of  the  first  syllable  of  t'rapo,  but  if  P  had  so  understood  it 
he  would  have  printed  it  in  italics,  as  a  root.     On  the  other  hand,  the 
infix  t'ra-  may  give  the  force  of  "much,"  as  it  does,  according  to  P, 
in  the  form  auko-t'ra-fcer  (leer,  root,  "to  glitter";  prefixes  with  force  of 
"much";  hence,  to  blaze;  see  P,  p.  209).    The  infix  consists  of  the  prefix 
ra-  preceded  by  a  t'  that  P  believes  to  be  euphonic  rather  than  pronominal 
(see  P,  pp.  35,  81,  83,  84). 

4.  For  -le  see  above,  I,  note  4. 

5.  -a,  printed  by  P  as  a  sufiix;  but  of  the  suffixes  listed  by  P  (pp.  35, 
36)   the  form  nearest  to  -a  is  -nga,  a  verbal-substantive  suffix  which  does 
not   appear,   except  by  borrowing    (?),  in  Aukan-Juwm    (cf.  below,  IV, 
note  4).    It  should  be  remarked  that  both  here  and  in  the  U-a  of  the  next 
line  a  verbal  substantive  would  be  appropriate.     On  the  other  hand,  the 
-a  may  be  an  addition  for  rhythm's  sake.     Certainly  the  identical  sound 
at  the  end  of  both  lines  gives  a  musical  effect,  a  special  "lift"  to  the 
lines.    I  have  ventured  to  copy  this  vocal  effect  with  a  ballad  "  O. " 

6.  -i,  which  is  printed  as  a  suffix,  I  cannot  find  in  P's  list  of  suffixes.    Is 
it  a  meaningless  vocable,  inserted  for  some  rhythmical  purpose? 

7.  U-a.     P  says  (p.  170)  that  this  U  is  a  poetic  abbreviation  (license) 
of  niU,  a  ringing  in  the  head,  or  a  singing  in  the  ears.     The  full  form 
given  in  the  vocabulary,  aukau-nili-lekile   (prefix  referring  to  the  head  + 
root  +  noun  suffix),  does  not  resemble  the  root  meaning  to  sing.     Is  nili 
onomatopoetic?    Would  "buzzing"  be  an  adequate  translation? 


104       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 


III 

AUKAU-JC7TTO/  PIG-HUNT  SONG,  NO.  3. 

Again  a  hunter  explains  why  he  has  not  brought  home  any 
pigs.  As  in  the  second  song,  the  soloist  speaks  in  a  sort  of  make- 
believe  historical  present.  He  wishes  it  to  be  understood  that 
several  people  have  died  in  this  place  where  he  is  hunting  and 
that  therefore  there  are  no  pigs.  Moreover,  his  head  is  aching  so 
badly  that  he  is  unable  to  go  farther. 

Andamanese  hunters  have  an  engaging  joke  which  they  play 
over  and  over  again  to  the  ever  undiminished  joy  of  their  fellows. 
Upon  returning  from  an  excursion  the  hunter  assumes  a  mourn- 
ful, disappointed  air  to  make  the  village  believe  he  has  had  no 
success.  But  after  a  little  while  he  casually  remarks  to  several 
youngsters  that  in  such  and  such  a  part  of  the  jungle  they  may 
find  something  of  interest.  The  boys  race  to  the  spot,  fi,nd  th& 
dead  pigs,  and  bring  them  home,  to  the  huge  delight  of  the  crowd. 
It  may  be  that  both  this  and  the  previous  song  are  intended  to 
recall  this  popular  play;  the  next,  No.  IV,  almost  certainly  is. 


Solo: 


Lad1        tau2        l'aukau-p  'rok*        chit*        aulo,5 

Dead-men     bones  the  same  as  hunting  after  (?) , 

Eche-tf  'autau-£  duQ        1  'aukau-^e  jd,7        6,8 

My  head          .  throbbing,  O, 


lu       rauksin-nejd,Q       o-le,10         '6-11 

My  head  throbbing.  he,  his- 

ra'rcm-ka.12 

poundings-do. 


Refrain : 


-Nejd13        6-le,        '6-m'rdu-ka. 

Throbbing  he,  his-poundings-do. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  105 

x 

Translation : 

Dead-men  rs  bones  where  I  am  hunting ! 
My  head  is  throbbing  0, 
My  head  is  throbbing,  it  is,  pounding  away. 
Throbbing  it  is,  pounding  away. 

1.  Lao,  properly,  means  Indian,  i.e.,  Hindu  (see  P,  pp.  286,  369,  and 
Vocabulary).     P  notes  (pp.  198,  286)  that  the  corresponding  Aka-2?ea-da 
word,  Chdoga,  signifies  a  dead  person  or  ghost,  and  that  the  Andamanese 
long  ago  applied  this  term  to  the  Hindus  who  visited  their  shores,  for  they 
thought   the   pale-faced   Hindus   were   the    spirits    of   Andamanese    dead 
coming  back  for  a  visit.     Evidently  the  meanings  and  beliefs  attaching 
to  Chdoga  pertain  also  to  the  Aukau-Juwm  word,  Lad.     Hence  the  trans- 
lation 1 1  dead-men, ' '  which  is  P  Js.    P  reports  the  superstition  that  ' '  when 
a  death  occurs  in  a  place,  and  a  corpse  is  given  platform  burial  there, 
no  pigs  will  be  found  in  the  vicinity  for  some  time  afterwards"  (p.  171). 

2.  tau,  bone,  bones,  skull;  cf.  tdule,  cockles   (above,  I,  1.  1),  i.e.,  the 
bones    (shell)    of  the  cockle.     The  possessive  would  be  expressed  by  a 
pronominal  prefix  (—  their  bones)  that  the  composer  has  not  seen  fit  to 
include.     Perhaps  the  next  word,  the-same-as,  takes  the  place  of  a  pos- 
sessive.    At  any  rate  one  is  reminded  that  in  pidgin  English  the  phrase 
would  be  rendered  ' '  Bones  alle  same  dead-men, ' '  instead  of  ' '  dead-men 's 
bones." 

3.  1  'aukau-p  'role,  the  same  as,  similar,  together;  1J  is  probably  euphonic, 
to  prevent  the  aii  of  the  previous  word  from  struggling  with  the  au   of 
this  compound.     Aukau  is  a  prefix  modifying  the  meaning  of  the  root;   it 
refers   most   commonly  to   the   teeth,   the   mouth,   pointed   things,   trees, 
wooden  things  (cf.  above,  I,  note  1).     Here  the  reference  appears  to  be 
to  the  bones. 

4.  chit.    In  his  interlinear  translation  P  prints  "will"  under  chit  and 
"hunt"  under  aiilo.     In  another  place   (p.  196)  he  says  that  chit  means 
"hunting."     It  certainly  does  not  mean  "will."     Presumably  the  word 
is  a  verbal  substantive  with  "I"  understood:  I  hunting.     The  whole  line 
seems  to  be  an  example  of  the  disjunctive  and  elliptical  method  of  speech 
characteristic  of  the  simpler  peoples;   "dead  men,  bones,  the  same  as, 
hunting, ' '  for  ' l  dead-men 's  bones  are  where  I  am  hunting. ' '    For  another 
interpretation  see  below. 

5.  aiilo,  cf.  above,  note  4.     The  future  tense  of  chit  suggested  by  P's 
"will  hunt"  might  be  expressed  by  a  root  with  a  future  suffix,  but  dulo 
is  a  root,  not  a  suffix.    In  his  free  translation  P  discards  the  "will  hunt" 
both  as  a  phrase  and  an  idea.    The  difficulty  is  made  still  greater  by  the 
fact  that  dulo  does  not  appear  in  P's  vocabulary  of  the  Aukau-Jwwot.    It 
may  possibly  be  borrowed  from  the   Aka-#ea-da,  in   which   it   signifies 
"after"    (P,  p.  193).     Might  "hunting  after"  be  the  meaning?     And 


106       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

does  the  singer  mean  to  say  that  there  are  dead-men 's  bones  where  he  is 
hunting  after  pig,  or  that  hunting  here  is  like  hunting  after  dead-men's 
bones?  I  have  preferred  the  former  interpretation,  which  is  supported, 
moreover,  by  P's  free  "version"  of  the  line:  "Several  people  have  died 
in  this  place  and  therefore  there  are  no  pigs. ' ' 

6.  £che-t 'auta.u-tdu :    eche-,    possessive    prefix    singular,    my;    i'autau-, 
combined  form  of  the  simple  pronoun  of  the  first  person  (tu,  I)  and  the 
prefix  autau-,  giving  again  the  sense  of  "my,"  but  also  including,  in 
autau-,  a  special  limitation  of  the  root  tdu   (bone)    to  the  head — hence 
' '  my  head-bone, ' '  or,  simply,  ' '  my  head. ' ' 

7.  1  'aukau-TKya,  P,  pain.     1'  is  probably  euphonic;  cf.  above,  note  3, 
and  observe  here  the  sequence  of  five  au  sounds.     Throughout  the  song, 
indeed,  this  expressive  au  repeats  itself  like  the  throb  of  aching  nerves 
(the  Aka-5eo-da  root  for  "throb"  is  duna),  or,  perhaps,  like  cries  of  pain. 
Reading  the  lines  aloud  almost  gives  one  a  headache.    What  would  be  the 
effect  if  one  were  to  hear  the  Andamanese  chorus!      Aiikau-  is  a  prefix, 
presumably  modifying  the  root.    Nejd  may  be  a  poetic  license  for  ngeche, 
to  throb.    P  prints  this  compound  and  the  following  6  as  a  separate  line, 
but  the  division  here  adopted  seems  preferable  as  better  suiting  the  sense 
and  more  clearly  following  the  parallelism. 

8.  6  is  not  translated  by  P;  it  may  be  a  meaningless  vocable,  similar 
to  the  ballad  "  O. ' ' 

9.  With  this  second  nejd  P  begins  a  new  line,  thereby  distorting  the 
obvious  construction  of  the  song. 

10.  o-le.     P 's  interlinear  translation  is  so  arranged  that  he  seems  to 
translate  o-le,  "is";  but  I  am  sure  that  he  means  only  to  insert  an  "is" 
after  nejd  to  make  the  Sense  clear — ' '  pain  is. ' '     In  the  vocabulary  P 
gives  <5-le  as  "  he. "    "  Head  palpitating  he  "  is  surely  a  clear  and  emphatic 
way  of  saying  that  one 's  head  is  throbbing. 

11.  '6-.     Portman   does  not  translate   this  troublesome  monosyllable, 
but  the  fact  that  he  prints  a  smooth  breathing  before  the  vowel  indicates 
that  he  regards  the  form  as  a  prefix  with  the  force  of  a  third-person 
possessive  pronoun  (see  P,  pp.  42,  43).    But  as  a  prefix  it  should  be  joined 
with  some  root.    I  have  ventured,  therefore,  to  join  it  with  the  following 
root,  though  I  think  it  more  likely  that  it  should  have  been  printed  6 — 
a  duplication,  merely,  of  the  6  in  the  previous  line    (cf.  note  8).     The 
syllable  seems  necessary  to  the  rhythm  of  the  line. 

12.  mVaii-ka,  P,  throbs.     I  have  substituted  "poundings"  because  I 
have  used  "throb"  for  nejd.     -Ka  is  probably  a  present-tense  verbal 
suffix,  as  though  we  should  make  a  verb  out  of  the  noun  "throbs,"  or 
"poundings,"  by  adding  "do." 

13.  Observe  that  the  refrain  commences  at  the  juncture  of  a  prefix 
and  a  root — an  indication  of  the  superiority  of  rhythm  to  meaning. 


1922] 


Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs 


107 


IV 


AUKAU-JC/JFO/  PIG-HUNT  SONG,  NO.  4. 

Of  this  song  Portman  writes:  "I  was  told  that  the  soloist 
intended  his  audience  to  infer  that  he  had  gone  back  to  the  village 
and  that  the  people  there  thought  he  had  not  got  a  pig  ;  in  reality 
he  had  shot  one,  and  had  left  it  in  the  jungle  a  little  distance  off" 
(cf.  introduction  to  No.  Ill,  above}.  Portman' s  free  translation, 
in  which  he  aims  to  explain  the  meaning  of  the  song  rather  than 
to  present  a  faithful  version,  is  as  follows:  "I  saw  a  pig  and  it 
did  not  see  me;  so  I' drew  back  the  lower  part  of  my  bow  that  it 
should  not  see  it.  I  crept  close  to  the  pig,  silently,  on  tiptoe." 


Solo: 


Kok 

Bow 

Kok 

Bow 


its         -tying  part 

fra-chatim-a,* 

its       -tying  part. 


ra-Zo^-e,3 

drew  back, 


Poi5        tote6 

Stooping  softly 

Refrain : 

Poi  tote 

Stooping  softly 


abe7-Zi-a.8 

creeping. 


abe-Zi-a. 

creeping. 


Translation : 

My  bow,  its  lower  part,  I  drew  back, 
My  bow,  its  lower  part ; 
Stooping,  softly  creeping. 
Stooping,  softly  creeping. 

1.  f'ra-,  P,  its.  Is  not  Tra-  a  printer's  mistake  for  t'ra-?  The  former 
is  composed  of  the  prefix  ra-  and  the  abbreviated  form  t'  of  the  pronoun 
tu,  "I,"  and  has  the  force  of  "my."  It  is  difficult  to  understand  how 


108       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

the  first  person  possessive  pronoun  fits  the  context.  But  t  'ra-  is  a  form 
assumed  by  the  prefix  ra-  within  the  sentence  or  in  a  compound  word, 
the  t'  probably  being  euphonic  and  not  pronominal.  In  addition  to  its 
root-modifying  function  this  form  of  the  prefix  carries  a  meaning  for  the 
Andamanese  mind  that  may  be  loosely  represented  for  the  English  mind 
by  the  impersonal  possessive  l '  its. ' '  This  interpretation,  at  any  rate, 
explains  P's  translation  given  at  the  head  of  this  note. 

2.  chaume,  P,  lower  part.    I  cannot  find  this  word,  but  in  some  of  the 
Andamanese  dialects  chau  means  "to  tie"  (cf.  chaurog,  to  tie  up;  chdnbe- 
lekile,  a   netted  bag).     Chaume,  then,  may  very  likely  refer  to  that  end 
of  the  bow  about  which  the  string  is  tied;   hence  P's  version,  "lower 
part.7'    On  chaume  as  a  verbal  substantive  see  below,  note  4. 

3.  ra-Wtf-e",  P,  pulled  back.     The   prefix  ra-,  used   also   with   chaume, 
modifies  the  meaning  of  the  root,  probably  by  limiting  it  to  some  associ- 
ation with  a  tree  (see  P,  p.  388) ;  cf.  the  wooden  bow.     Lot  is  the  root, 
meaning  to  extract,  recover,  uproot,  etc.,  and  so  modified  by  the  prefix,  I 
presume,  as  to  mean,  to  pull  back.    Of  the  equivalent  root  in  Aka-Bea-cla 
P  notes  that  "pulling"  and  "recovering"  are  associated  in  the  Andama- 
nese mind  because  the  first  idea  of  recovering  a  thing  that  has  been  taken 
away  by  force  is  to  pull  it  back  again.     The  suffix  -e  is  perhaps  a  poetic 
abbreviation  of  the  imperfect-tense  suffix  -chike,  but  I  am  not  at  all  sure 
of  this. 

4.  -a.    Is  this  suffix  the  equivalent  of  the  Aka-Beo-da  verbal-substantive 
suffix  -nga?     It  seems  to  be,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  fact  that  P  gives 
the    Aukau-JwwOT  aun-s,  as  the  equivalent  of  the  Aka-Bea-da  ow/o-nga,  to 
be  able   (p.  372).     The  verbal  substantive  "tying  part"  is  appropriate 
to  the  context.     May  not  chaume  in  the  previous  line  be  a  mistake  for 
cUdum-at    P  notes  that  in  Aukau-Juwdi  e  and  a  appear  to  be  interchange- 
able  (p.  30).     If,  on  the  other  hand,  -a  were  a  meaningless  vocable  I 
should  not  expect  it  to  be  printed  as  a  suffix. 

5.  Poi,   P,   on   tiptoe.     In   the   vocabulary   poi   is   rendered,   to    drink. 
Perhaps  the  same  word  conveys  the  meaning  of  stooping  (as  to  drink)  ? 
P's  "tiptoe"  is  Tam-locJiolc  in  the  vocabulary. 

6.  tote,  quietly,  slowly,  softly,  gently. 

7.  abe-  is  strange.     Should  the  reading  be  ebe-,  or  ab-,  both  of  which 
are  common  prefixes,  the  second  relating  to  the  human  body  (cf.  creeping)  ? 
Or  is  abe-  a  case  of  poetic  license? 

8.  7-t-a,  P,  I  crept.    In  the  vocabulary  U  is  given  as,  to  descend.     Pre- 
sumably the  prefix  abe-  modifies  the  root  so  that  it  means,  to  creep.    For 
-a  as  a  verbal-substantive  suffix  (hence,  "creeping"),  see  above,  note  4. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  109 


AKAR-BALE1  TURTLE-HUNT  SONG,  NO.  1. 
As  in  the  pig-hunt  songs  the  pig  was  not  mentioned,  so  in 
this  song  about  spearing  turtles  the  word  turtle  does  not  occur. 
According  to  Portman,  the  soloist  means  to  say  that  he  took  his 
canoe  to  a  reef  where  the  turtles  come  to  feed  and  that  the  man 
who  poled  the  canoe  for  him  pushed  it  along  very  slowly  and 
gently. 

Solo: 

Log,2        I'&r-choarya*        dlnye*        d'idi-dut* 

Right  place,         his-breakers,  therefore  I-stop, 

Log,        I'&Y-chodryo;* 

Right  place,         his-breakers; 

6ng7        d'en8        Siut-~bodng-d6oato-re.9 

He  for  me  hole-pushed. 

Refrain : 

6ng        d'en.        aut-bodng-dooato-re. 

He  for  me  hole-pushed. 

Translation: 

This  is  the  right  place,  these  are  his  breakers ;  therefore  I 

stop. 

This  is  the  right  place,  these  are  his  breakers. 
He  poled  for  me  slowly. 
He  poled  for  me  slowly. 

1.  A  tribe  inhabiting  the  coasts  of  the  Archipelago  Islands,  northeast 
of  South  Andaman  Island.  The  Akar-BdZe  were  subdivided  into  the 
Northern  and  Southern  Archipelago  tribes,  who  spoke  different  dialects, 
the  division  being  between  Havelock  and  Lawrence  islands.  But  the 
Southern  sept  is  extinct.  The  dialect  of  the  Northern  sept  is  closely 
allied  to  the  Aka%Bea-da  language.  The  meaning  of  the  tribal  name  is 


110       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

said  to  be,  "On  the  opposite  side  of  the  sea."  The  root  Bale  or  Bdla 
means  "the  land  on  that  side,"  or  "the  land  over  there";  in  other 
words,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  mainland  of  the  Great  Andaman, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  sea  (P,  p.  205).  Cf.  the  conjectural  derivation  of 
Hebrew. 

2.  Log,  P,  the  way.     Ar-log-da   (prefix  modifying  the  root  +  root  -f- 
noun-suffix)  means,  the  proper  place  for  anything.     The  reef,  evidently, 
is  the  proper  place  for  finding  turtles.     The  composer  has  omitted  the 
prefix. 

3.  I'ar-chodrya,  P,  his-the  sea.     The  prefix  is  composed  of  T,  a  reg- 
ular   pronominal    abbreviation,    and    the    modifying    prefix    ar-,    and    in 
English  has  the  force  of  "his"  or  "its,"  i.e.,  "his  (the  turtle's)  chodrya." 
Choar  (char  in  Aka -Sea-da)   is  a  root  signifying  "running  water,"  and 
its  meaning  is  modified  by  prefixes.    Thus,  in  Aka-Bea-da,  ar-cMr-da  means 
the  head  of  a  salt-water  creek;  aka-cftdr-da,  a  waterfall  or  rapid  (see  P, 
p.  378).     Our  form,  ar-choar,  is  used  for  a  waterfall  and  here  probably 
refers  to  the  water  falling  over  the  reef   (breakers?)   where  the  turtle 
feeds.    The  ya  is  perhaps  an  extra  syllable  (like  the  yo  in  the  next  line), 
added  for  rhythm's  sake. 

4.  alnye,  P,  on  this  account.    I  do  not  find  the  word  in  P 's  vocabulary. 
For  "consequently"  he  gives  an  Mchune,  of  which  this  may  be  a  poetic 
contraction.    A  word  of  similar  sound  is  the  Aukau-Juwoi  leTcolnye,  ( '  also, ' ' 
which   in   the   Puchikwdr  language   becomes   Wlnye.     In   the   disjunctive 
tongue  of  the  Andamanese  ' '  also ' '  easily  carries  the  force  of  ' '  therefore ' ' : 
"his  place — also  (i.e.,  therefore)  I  stop." 

5.  d'idi-dut,  P,  I  stop.     The  prefix  is  composed  of  d',  a  usual  abbre- 
viation of  dolf  "I,"  and  the  modifying  prefix  idi-  (see  P,  pp.  60,  61,  67). 
The  root  dut  I  find  in  P 's  vocabulary  as  the  equivalent  not  of  ' '  stop, ' ' 
but  of  "to  peck,"  "to  pierce   (as  with  an  arrow),"  "to  prick,"  "to 
harpoon."     It  seems  to  have  a  plural  connotation,  as  "to  pierce  with 
many  arrows"  (P,  p.  319).    Presumably  the  meaning  here  has  to  do  with 
the  spearing  of  the  turtle,  or,  possibly,  the  stopping  (cf.  P's  version)  to 
spear  him.    The  prefix  idi-  probably  determines  the  exact  meaning. 

6.  yo,  see  above,  note  3. 

7.  6ng,  he;  the  form  of  the  pronoun  used  with  a  verb  (P,  p.  63). 

8.  d'en:  d',  the  abbreviation  for  dol,  "I,"  when  it  occurs  before  pre- 
fixes; en-,  prefix.    The  form  has  the  force  of  "my,"  "for  me." 

9.  aut-bodng-dooato-Te,  P,  went  very  slowly.     This  is  a  difficult  case 
of  agglutination.     The  prefix  aut-  is  used  of  round  things,  the  head,  a 
hole  (?),  says  P  (pp.  35,  388).     The  first  root,  bodng,  signifies  a  hole,  as 
a  hole  in  the  ground   (cf.    'aka-bodng,  mouth;    'ar-bodng,  anus).     Bodng 
means,  also,  to  make  a  hole  in  the  earth,  to  dig  up  (see  P,  pp.  6,  38,  40, 
42,  and  76  of  the  vocabulary,  and  280  of  the  text).     Possibly  the  literal 


1922 J    .  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  111 

sense  of  the  passage  is  that  the  helper  pushed  (dooato)  holes  in  the  bottom 
of  the  lagoon,  i.e.,  poled  the  canoe.  P,  indeed,  uses  the  word  poling  in  his 
free  translation.  But  where  does  he  get  his  "very  slowly"?  Are  we 
to  understand  some  reference  to  poling  as  a  slow  process,  or  to  pushing 
deep  into  the  mud  and  so  going  slowly?  The  root  dooato  appears  to  be 
related  to  id-uddoto,  to  push.  "This  meaning  is  not  affected  by  the 
addition  of  prefixes,  which  merely  indicate  the  part  of  the  human  body, 
or  the  articles,  pushed "  (P,  p.  325):  thus,  'ot-tidaoti,  to  push  a  person 
from  the  back  of  his  neck;  aka-wdadti,  to  push  a  person  backwards  by 
placing  one's  hand  on  his  chest  (P,  p.  345).  If  dooato  is  for  udaoti,  as 
seems  probable,  it  must  mean  either  ' '  push ' '  or  some  way  of  pushing — 
perhaps  gently.  Or,  as  suggested  above,  does  the  compound  as  a  whole 
equal  our  word  poled?  or,  "he  poled  for  me  slowly"?  I  have  adopted 
the  last  suggestion  because  it  combines  P's  version  and  some  of  the  points 
raised  above.  The  suffix  -re,  in  Aka-Sea-da  at  least,  is  the  suffix  for  the 
perfect  tense. 


VI 
AKAR-BALE  TURTLE-HUNT  SONG,  NO.  2. 

Beginning  at  the  age  of  eleven,  twelve,  or  thirteen,  Andam- 
anese youths  abstain  from  certain  kinds  of  food  for  periods 
varying  from  one  to  five  years.  This  fasting  seems  to  be  a  test 
of  endurance  and  self-control,  and  affords  evidence  of  fitness  to 
rear  a  family.  One  of  the  fwbidden  foods  is  turtle,  a  great  deli- 
cacy among  the  Andamanese.  At  a  special  turtle-eating  cere- 
mony, which  seems  to  correspond  to  the  ceremony  of  initiation 
into  manhood  among  other  savage  peoples,  this  fast  is  broken. 
Young  men  who  have  lately  gone  through  the  ceremony  wear 
bunches  of  Baurowa  leaves  in  their  belts,  and  the  Andamanese 
believe  that  turtles,  ashamed  to  come  near  these  leaves,  hide  from 
people  who  are  wearing  them. 

The  composer  of  the  following  song,  says  Portman,  wishes  to 
blame  his  ill  luck  in  hunting  for  turtle  upon  two  young  men,  Keti 
and  I  rap,  who  were  with  him  and  who  were  wearing  the  leaves 
that  are  peculiarly  offensive  to  turtle  modesty.  But  he  concludes 
with  a  promise  to  fetch  a  turtle. 


112       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

Solo: 

Keti,        rar-bdurowd-le,1        d'iji-jodbgo-162        tik* 

Keti,  his-baurowa  leaves-from  my  -   turtle  shame 

-Vomo? 

-brought ; 

trap,        l'ar-bdurowd-le         d'ij'5-6tQ-jodbjo-lo 

Irap,  his-baurowa  leaves-from,         my     -that  (?)  -turtle 

tik-l  'omo-a,7 

shame-brought, 

L'omd;8         ~bdurowd-le         d'iji-jodbgo        mare,9 

Brought;  baurowa  leaves-from,         my   -    turtle  hid, 

Baurowd-U       d'ij'-6w-jodbgo;^        Ude12        omo-i.13 

Baurowa  leaves-from    my-that(?)      -turtle;  saw  bring. 

Refrain : 

Jodbgo™        bade        6m6-i. 

turtle  saw  bring. 

Translation : 

Keti,  at  his  Baurowa  leaves  my  turtle  felt  shame ; 

Irap,   at  his  Baurowa  leaves  that  turtle   of    mine   felt 

shame — 

Felt  it ;  from  the  Baurowa  leaves  my  turtle  hid — 
From  the  Baurowa  leaves,  that  turtle  of  mine;  I  saw,  I 

bring, 
A  turtle  I  saw,  I  bring. 

1.  l'a,r-~baurowd-le,  P,  his-Baurowa  leaves-by.     For  the  prefix  Par-  see 
above,  V,  note  3.     The  le  at  the  end  of  the  compound  is  a  postposition 
(the  Andamanese  have  no  prepositions)    meaning,  from,   after;    here  it 
indicates  the  source  of  the  shame. 

2.  d 'iji- joabgo-lo.     The  prefix  consists  of  d',  the  abbreviated  form  of 
dol,  "I,"  and  iji-,  a  prefix  that  has  possessive  force  when  it  is  used  with 
roots  in  group  (1);  hence  the  translation,  "my."    The  suffix  -16  is  difficult. 
There  is  a  vocative  suffix  of  this  form.     It  is  used,  however,  only  when 
an  animate  object  is  called  or  addressed,  and  here  the  singer  seems  neither 
to  call  nor  address  his  turtle. 

3.  tik,  for  ot-teke,  shame.     The  root  tek  means  ' '  shame, ' '  and  appears 
to  take  only  the  prefix  6t-,  which  the  poet  has  seen  fit  to  omit.     ' '  The 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  113 

Andamanese  have  very  decided  views  on  the  subject  of  shame  and 
modesty,  though  they  differ  somewhat  from  Europeans  in  their  meanings 
of  these  words"  (P,  p.  342). 

4.  1'omo.     The  T  is  probably  euphonic.     The  root  omo,  to  bring,  is 
used  with  inanimate  objects.     The  form  tik-l'omo  is  a  poetic  license  for 
some  such  compound  as  6t-f  efc-1 'omd-nga,  the  suffix  -nga  signifying  past 
time.    The  Andamanese  say  that  the  turtle  brought  shame  from  the  leaves; 
in  English  we  should  say  that  the  turtle  felt  shame  in  the  presence  of  the 
leaves.     The  former  seems  more  vivid. 

5.  d  'ij '.     The  final  i  of  the  prefix  iji-  is  omitted,  for  euphony,  before 
an  initial  vowel.     This  is  the  rule  in  both  speaking  and  singing  (P,  pp. 
176-177). 

6.  6t-,  a  prefix,  possibly  with  the  force  of  "that"  (P,  p.  388).     Note 
the  emphatic  effect  of  this  variation  (see  the  free  translation). 

7.  a,  probably  an  abbreviation  of  -nga,  perfect-tense  suffix.    Cf.  above, 
note  4. 

8.  L  'omo.     ' '  Certain   phrases  are   repeated  in   the   solo,   sense  being 
again  sacrificed  to  sound"   (P,  p.  176).     But  that  the  repetition  is  not 
without  force  is  evident,  I  think,  in  the  free  translation. 

9.  mare  takes  the  prefix  ig-  in  Aka-.Bea-da   (Akar-BdJe,  id-)  ;  mare  is 
poetic  license  for  some  such  form  as  id-mdre-nga. 

10.  6-,  probably  for  the  6t-  of  the  second  line;  see  above,  note  6. 

11.  jodbgo.     With  this  root  P  begins  a  new  verse,  evidently  to  corre- 
spond with  the  refrain.    But  this  device  breaks  the  sequence. 

12.  bade,  to  see.     "A  euphonic  alteration  from  bddig"   (P,  p.  176); 
but  in  his  vocabulary  P  gives  bddig  as  the  Aka-I?ea-da  form  of  the  Akar- 
Bdle  bddi.     Bddi  takes  the  prefix  id-;  "I  saw"  would  be  d 'id-feddf-nga, 
of  which  bade  may  be  considered  a  poetic  abbreviation. 

13.  6mo-i.     Is  the  suffix  a  substitute  for  the  future  suffix  -ke?     The 
complete   form   for   "I   will  bring"   would  be    something   of   this   sort: 
d'  +  prefix  -Pdmd-ke. 

14.  Note  that,  as  in  III  above,  the  refrain  begins  in  the  middle  of  a 
compound,  at  a  junction  of  a  prefix  and  a  root.     Thus  meaning  is  sacri- 
ficed to  rhythm,  says  P;  but  some  sense  does  creep  into  the  refrain,  for 
there  seems  to  be  here  a  promise  of  a  turtle,  after  all! 


114       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 


VII 


TUETLE-HUNT  SONG,  NO.  3 

"This  song  refers  to  an  occasion  when  the  composer  and  a 
friend  of  his,  named  Irap,  went  out  together  to  catch  turtle.  In 
the  solo  the  composer  states  that  Irap  helped  to  pull  his  canoe  in 
order  to  catch  turtle  and  thus  get  something  to  eat  ;  in  the  refrain 
the  composer  tells  the  villagers  that  Irap  helped  to  pull  his  canoe 
in  order  to  catch  some  turtle  and  thus  give  them  something  to 
eat,  the  doing  so  being  a  meritorious  action  on  Irap's  part.  No 
sarcasm  is  intended.  It  is  understood  that  the  composer  stood 
in  the  bow  of  the  canoe  in  order  to  spear  the  turtle,  the-  post  of 
honour,  while  Irap  was  pulling  for  him.  I  do  not  consider  this 
song  to  be  pure  Akar-Bdle,  though  the  Andamanese  insist  that  it 
is;  it  appears  to  be  mixed  with  Aka-Bea-da"  (rearranged  from 
P,  pp.  177-178).  That  the  word  turtle  does  not  appear  in  the 
song  is,  as  we  have  seen,  characteristic. 


Solo: 


eb*-rdukduQ-li' 


Irap-master             his     -stomach-for 

for  me 

gomal8-l6,Q 

paddled, 

D'en 

For  me 

eb-rdukdu-li 

canoe 

gomal-16  ; 

paddled. 

trap 

Irap 

ng'adw-jodo-leb 

your  -stomachs-for 

gomal-16. 

paddled. 

ng'ad-jodo-leb 

your  -stomachs-for 


gomal-16. 

paddled. 


Kefrain 
trap 

Irap 

Translation : 

Master  Irap  for  his  stomach's  sake  paddled  the  canoe  for 
me  0, 

Paddled  the  canoe  for  me  0 ; 
Irap  for  your  stomachs'  sake  paddled  0. 
Irap  for  your  stomachs'  sake  paddled  0. 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  115 

1.  -le,   honorific   suffix,   which   I  have   rendered   by   " master."     The 
honorific  suffix  is  added  only  to  the  proper  names  of  the  Andamanese  and 
is  used  in  all  parts  of  the  sentence  (P,  pp.  36,  84).    In  the  refrain,  how- 
ever, the  composer  has  omitted  it,  presumably  to  suit  the  rhythm.     It  is 
an  interesting,  and  possibly  significant,  fact  that  if  the  first  line  is  scanned 
as  iambic  the  ictus  falls  on  the  important  syllables,  and  that  in  the  refrain 
as  it  stands  the  same  is  true,  but  would  not  be  true  if  the  honoric  suffix 
were  added. 

2.  'ad-,  possessive  prefix  with  jodo,  a  root  of  group  (1);  also  spoken 
'ab-  (P,  pp.  39,  43). 

3.  leb,  a  postposition  (cf.  above,  VI,  note  1). 

4.  d'en.     Cf.  above,  V,  note  8. 

5.  eb-.     The  force  of  this  prefix  I  do  not  understand.     It  does  not 
seem  to  be  required  in  order  to  make  the  following  root  mean  "canoe." 
If  P  had  printed  it   'eb,  according  to  his  system  of  signs  it  would  mean 
"his,"  and  then  Irap  would  be  pulling  his  own  canoe  instead  of  the 
composer's.     But  P  states  clearly  that  the  canoe  belonged  to  the  com- 
poser.    Either  P  has  made  a  mistake  or  eb-  has  some  entirely  different 
force,  which  P  should  have  explained. 

6.  raiikau,  canoe,   for   roko.     In   Aka.-Bea-da,   and,  I  presume,   in   the 
closely  related  Akar-#dfe,  5  and  au  are  interchangeable.     Boko-da,  (-da  is 
the  noun-suffix  in  Aka-B<?a-da  and  Akar-Bdle,  but  it  is  generally  omitted 
in  the  latter)  is  the  generic  term  for  "canoe."    A  particular  canoe  may 
be  called  by  the  name  of  the  tree  from  which  it  is  made  (P,  p.  216). 

7.  -li.     I  do  not  know  whether  this  is  a  meaningless  syllable  inserted 
to  satisfy  the  rhythm,  which  is  probable,  or  a  poetic  license  for  a  noun- 
suffix  at  the  end  of  a  compound  word.     If  the  latter,  the  form  has  been 
' '  made  up ' '  not  from  the  Akar-Bdle  suffix,  -da,  but  from  a  form  used  by 
some  other  tribe. 

8.  gomal,  P,  pulled.     The  form  given  in  the  vocabulary  is  gomalo,  to 
bend,  hence  to  paddle;  or,  perhaps,  "paddle"  is  the  primary  sense.    "The 
root  gomal  in  Akar-Bdle  also  has  the  meaning  of  paddling  all  together, 
referring  to  the  action  of  the  people  in  the  canoe"  (P,  p.  207). 

9.  -16.     This  is  not  a  perfect-tense  suffix,  for  in  words  that,  like  this, 
are  common  to  Akar-Bdle  and  Aka-Bea-da,  the  perfect  suffix  is  -nga.     It 
is  possible  that  -16  is  an  extra,  rhythmical  syllable.     At  any  rate,  the 
vocal  effect  of  every  line  ending  in  -16  is  so  striking  that  in  the  free 
translation  I  have  copied  it  by  inserting  a  ballad  "O." 

10.  ng'ad-,  your:   ng',  the  abbreviated  form  of  ngdulo  (second  person 
plural  pronoun,  "you")    before  prefixes;    'ad,  see  above,  note  2.     The 
plural  pronoun  makes  jodo  plural,  ' '  stomachs. ' ' 


116       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 


VIII 

A.~KA-BEA-VAi  SONG,  NO.  1 

The  composer  refers  to  an  occasion  when  a  dugong2  which  he 
had  harpooned,  towed  his  canoe  out  into  deep  water,  or  the  open 
sea,  with  great  violence.  With  many  exclamations  he  describes 
how  the  fish  thrashed  back  and  forth  so  that  its  belly  could  be 
seen,  and  how  the  harpoon  line  twanged  as  the  animal  dragged 
him  back  with  a  rush.  The  adult  dugong  is  about  nine  feet  long 
and  is  very  powerful.  It  can  tow  a  canoe  for  miles  into  the  open 
sea.  To  catch  one  is  considered  a  great  feat  by  the  Andamanese, 
and  evidently  the  manner  and  excitement  of  the  chase  are  so 
peculiar  and  striking  that  there  is  no  need  to  mention  the  animal 
by  name  when  one  tells  or  sings  of  such  a  feat. 

Solo: 

Kaka!3        ili-lom*        a5        d'ik,Q        ng'a,d-jodo~ 

Whew.!  very  deep-in          he  me  took,  your-belly 

gedli-kz* 

kept  turning, 

Mobd!9        ng'^-jodo        gedli-ka,. 

Wow!  your-belly  kept  turning. 

Bd!w        Ran!11         eld12        d'ik        grom-l6-i.lz 

Ha!  Twang!  back  me  took         with  great  force. 

Refrain : 

Bd!        Ran!        eld        d'ik        grom-16-i. 

Ha!  Twang!  back          me  took       with  great  force. 

Translation : 

Whew !     Out  to  sea  he  dragged  me !     Your  belly  kept 
turning ! 

Wow !     Your  belly  kept  turning ! 
Ha !    Twang !    Back  he  dragged  me  with  a  rush  0  ! 
Ha!    Twang!    Back  he  dragged  me  with  a  rush  0! 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  117 

1.  A  tribe,  subdivided  into  seven  septs,  inhabiting  the  coast  of  Rut- 
land Island;  the  coast  and  part  of  the  interior  of  the  South  Andaman, 
and  certain  small  adjacent  islands;   and  part  of  the  west  coast  of  the 
Middle  Andaman.     The  dialects  of  the  septs  vary  and  the  southern  septs 
know  little  of  the  northern.     The  meaning  of  the  tribal  name  is  obscure, 
but  it  is  said  to  be  ' '  fresh  water. ' '     The  modern  word  for  fresh  water, 
however,  is  Om-da.     -Da  is  the  noun-suffix.     P  observes  that  in  composing 
songs  the  Aka--5ea-da  seem  to  alter  usual  forms  more  than  any  of  the 
other  Andamanese  tribes. 

2.  The  dugong,  sea-cow,  or  HaUcore  dugong,  is  a  large,  aquatic,  her- 
bivorous mammal  of  the  order  Sirenia.    It  has  a  "  tapering,  fish -like  body 
ending  in  flukes  like  a  whale's,  with  two  fore  flippers  and  no  hind  limbs." 
This  and  the  manatee  are  the  best  known  Sirenians.     It  has  been  sug- 
gested, because  of  their  shape,  that  they  gave  rise  to  the  myth  of  the 
mermaid. 

3.  Kaka,    for   kaka-te,    an    exclamation    "expressing   surprise    at    the 
occurrence  of  some  unexpected  event"   (P,  p.  94).     As  an  equivalent  I 
suggest  "Whew." 

4.  ili-lom,  P,  very  deep  water-in.     The  first  root  I  cannot  find  in  P7s 
vocabulary,   which   for  "deep,"   as  well  as  for   "very"  and  "much," 
gives  the  general  root  doga,  big.     Hi  may  be  a  poetic  license  for  some 
complex  form  (cf.  the  Puchikwdr  expression,  He  oei,  how  much),  or  it  may 
involve  some  metaphor  for  the  open  sea  ("sea"  is  juru).     The  second 
root,  16m,  is  a  rare  form  of  the  postposition  len,  in. 

5.  A,  he.     The  third  person  singular  personal  pronoun,  masculine  and 
feminine,  is  oMa  (-la  for  -da,  the  1  being  euphonic),  but  when  a  pronoun 
is  used  with  a  verb  its  form  changes  with  the  tenses  of  the  verb.     With 
present  and  future  tenses  da  is  used  for  "he,"  a  is  the  form  for  the 
perfect  tense,  and  6da  for  the  imperfect  (P,  pp.  62-63). 

6.  d'ik,  me  took:   d',  euphonic  abbreviation  of  da'   ("I";   the  same 
form  being  used  when  we  should  turn  to  the  accusative  "me"),  the  form 
the  first  person  singular  pronoun  takes  with  a  verb  in  the  perfect  tense 
(the  form  for  the  present  and  future  tenses  is  do,  for  the  imperfect  tense, 
dona}  ;   ?A-,  to  take  away.     The  suffix  for  the  perfect  tense,  -re,  has  been 
omitted  by  poetic  license. 

7.  ng'&d-jodo,  your  belly.     The  sudden  change  to  the  second  person  is 
vivid,     ncf'  is  the  abbreviated  form  that  nge,  your,  takes  before  a  prefix. 
The  prefix  here  is   'ad   (=  Jab),  the  correct  prefix  for  jodo  as  a  root  of 
group  (1). 

8.  gedli-ka,  P,  turned;  but  the  suffix  -ka  signifies  an  imperfect  tense, 
and  ' '  kept  turning ' '  is  far  more  vivid. 

9.  £16bd.     Presumably   an  explanation  parallel  to   Mkd,   but  P  inserts 
an  exclamation  point  after  the  latter  only.     Elood  resembles  the  Aukau- 
Juwm  exclamation  alo-bai,  which  is  the  equivalent,  moreover,  of  kaka. 


118       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  PMlology     [Vol.  11 

P  does  not  translate  eloba,  but  he  translates  the  Bd  of  the  refrain,  ' '  Why ! ' ' 
Is  bd  a  shortened  form  of  eloba?  At  any  rate,  I  have  carried  out  the 
parallelism  by  inserting  a  prolific  Wow!  But  I  ^hould  not  neglect  to 
observe  that  in  his  free  translation  of  the  second  line  P  stresses  a 
"turning  backwards  and  forwards."  It  would  be  quite  in  accord  with 
his  usual  method  if  he  inserted  this  phrase  for  explanatory  purposes; 
on  the  other  hand,  eloba  may  have  suggested  it.  But  if  so,  why  did  he 
not  translate  eloba  in  his  interlinear  version? 

10.  Bd,  P,  Why!     See  above,  note  9. 

11.  Ban.     P  says  that  ran  "has  no  meaning,  but  refers  to  the  noise 
made  by  the  rope  (one  end  of  which  is  fastened  to  the  harpoon  stuck  in 
the  dugong,  while  the  other  end  is  fastened  to  the  canoe),  by  which  the 
dugong  is  towing  the  canoe  about."     "Twang"  would  seem  to  be  an 
English  equivalent. 

12.  eld,  P,  back.    In  the  vocabulary  eld  is  given  as  "to  pour,"  but  I 
have  kept  P's  interlinear  version.     I  suppose  it  is  beside  the  point  to 
suggest  that  eld,  like  la,  might  be  related  to  eloba. 

13.  grom-16-i,  P,  with  great  force.     Grom  I  do  not  find,  but  cf.  the  root 
gdura,  strong,  strength,  muscle  (P,  p.  312).    Grom  may  be  a  poetic  license 
for  some  such  form  as  ab-gdura-doga-lom  (ab,  prefix  +  gdura,  force  -f-  doga, 
big  +  16m,  in)  !     Perhaps  one  should  not  attempt  to  form  compounds  of 
his  own,  but  this  little  agglutinative  adventure  is  intended  only  to  give 
some  very  general  idea  of  the  many  jointed  wonder  of  which  grom  may 
be  the  poetically  telescoped  result.     I  believe  that  the  invention  of  such 
a  vivid  word  as  grom  to  take  the  place  of  the  sesquipedalianism  would 
justify  me  in  translating  the  excellent  grom-  by  our  modern  invention, 
jazz.     ' '  He  dragged  me  back  with  jazz  O !  "  is  intimately  faithful  to  the 
original.    The  -16  and  -i  are  either  meaningless  vocables  inserted  to  fit  the 
rhythm,  or  abbreviations  of  suffixes.     P  says  that  the  refrain  is  almost 
unintelligible. 


1922] 


Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs 


119 


IX 


AKA-BA-DA  SONG,  NO.  2 

"This  song  is  about  Mala  Bio-la,  a  former  chief  of  Rutland 
Island,  who  was  greatly  respected  by  the  Andamanese  and  is  here 
given  the  two  highest  honorifics,  Mam  and  Mam.  It  tells  how  the 
composer  had.  come  into  the  Settlement  of  Port  Blair,  leaving  his 
adze  at  Tdra-chang,  where  he  was  cutting  a  canoe.  It  describes 
how  Mala  Bia-la  used  to  work  all  day  long  when  cutting  a  canoe 
and  how  his  biceps  used  to  stand  out  till  people  were  afraid  of  his 
strength"  (P,  pp.  179-180). 


Solo: 


Dona1         'aT-w6l62         'iji-d; 

I                        my-adze                          I 

-Settleme 

Mdia4        Mdm*        Bia-la6 

Honourable         Sir                    Bia-la 

'ar-H'0'Zo 

his-  adze 

wielding 


ig-ydura-tdg-re  ;8 

-strong-mighty-  was  ; 

Mala        Mam        Bia-la, 

Honourable       Sir  Bia-la 

ng  '-ig-yduro-'bd;™ 

you  -strong-not; 


wolo9 

adze 


'ik 

wielding 


He 

Ldt™ 

Afraid 

Refrain : 
Ldt 

Afraid 


Bia 

Bia 


'ik        ng'ig-ydiiro-6,12 

wielding      you  -strong 


rose  up. 


his  -strength 


~boi. 

his          -strength  rose  up. 


120       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

Translation : 

My  adze  I,  coming  to  the  Settlement,  left  behind  0 ! 

The  Honourable  Sir  Bia,  wielding  his  adze,  was  mighty 

strong. 
You,  the  Honourable  Sir  Bia's  adze  wielding,  were  strong 

— not  at  all! 

He,  Bia,  wielding  it,  you  were  strong — eh  ? 
Afraid !    When  his  strength  rose  up ! 
Afraid!    When  his  strength  rose  up! 

1.  Dona,  I:  the  form  of  the  first  person  singular  pronoun  used  with  a 
verb  in  the  imperfect  tense  (cf.  above,  VIII,  notes  5,  6).     The  imperfect 
tense  in  this  case  is  lost  in  the  long  compound  with  which  the  line  closes. 

2.  'ar-wolo,  my-adze;    'ar-  is  a  poetically  shortened  form  for  d'ar  (d' 
for  dol,  "I,"  before  the  prefix  ar-). 

3.  'iji-d'ak&n-j'rd-tegi-ngSi-]6,  P,  I  Settlement  left.     This  agglutination, 
long  enough  in  itself,  may  be  regarded  as  a  poetic  abbreviation  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  following  prose  sentence  as  given  by  P  (p.  181) : 

Dona  d'dLT-wolo   1  'aka-£ egi-re,      er     I'aka-juru-len  on-nga  bedig, 

I  my-adze  left,         country  sea  -  in      coming      also, 

i.e.,  I  left  my  adze  behind  when  I  came  to  the  "Country  by  the  Sea" 
(the  native  name  for  the  settlement).  If  the  poetic  and  prose  versions 
are  carefully  compared  several  interesting  questions  arise.  The  prefix 
'iji  does  not  appear  in  the  prose  sentence;  nor  does  P  translate  it  or 
comment  upon  it.  As  printed  it  is  a  prefix  of  the  first  group  of  roots  and 
has  the  force  of  "his,"  "her,"  or  "its."  But,  with  the  exception  of 
the  native  name  of  the  Settlement,  there  is  no  root  in  the  prose  sentence 
that  could  possibly  belong  to  group  (1),  and  it  does  not  seem  applicable 
to  the  Settlement.  Either  it  is  a  poetic  ' '  remnant ' '  of  some  idea  not 
understood  by  P  or  it  has  "wandered  in"  without  meaning,  by  poetic 
license.  Of  these  alternatives  the  former  is  the  preferable.  Next,  one 
will  note  that  the  root  tegi,  to  leave,  in  the  poetic  version  has  been  re- 
moved from  its  proper  position  before  j'ro  to  a  place  directly  after  j'ro, 
so  that  the  meaning  might  well  be  that  the  adze  had  been  left  at  the 
Settlement.  That  this  was  not  the  intended  meaning  we  can  only  take 
P's  word.  The  composer  omitted  the  prefix  aka-  and  its  euphonic  1',  as 
well  as  the  perfect-tense  suffix  -re,  all  of  which  are  indicated  in  the  prose 
sentence.  He  also  omitted  the  greater  part  of  the  native  name  for  the 
Settlement,  reducing  er  1  'aka-juru-len  to  sik.au- j'ro,  and  adding  the  abbre- 
viated form  d'  of  the  first  personal  pronoun  to  the  prefix  akan.  The 
composer's  -nga  (present-participle  suffix)  might  well  have  been  taken 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  121 

with  tegi  ("leaving  his  adze  in  the  Settlement")  had  we  not  P's  testi- 
mony that  with  the  -nga  we  should  supply  the  root  on,  to  come  ("coming 
to  the  Settlement").  The  omission  of  the  prose  bedig  (also)  need  not 
surprise  us,  but  P's  neglect  to  explain  the  final  -16  of  the  verse  inclines 
us  to  believe  that  it  is  a  meaningless  syllable,  as  we  have  surmised  in 
other  songs,  and  may  be  represented  by  an  "O. "  On  the  other  hand, 
it  may  be  a  way  of  bringing  the  compound  to  a  close.  These  many 
changes,  and  especially  the  syntactical  dislocation,  are  good  examples  of 
P  's  statement,  referred  to  above,  that  the  Aka-#ea-da  poet  is  particularly 
given  to  poetic  license. 

4.  Mala,  an  honorific.    ' '  When  grown  to  middle-age,  or  married,  a  man 
is  called  mala"  (P,  p.  85). 

5.  Mam,  an  honorific.     Ah  elderly  and  much  respected  man  is  called 
Mdm-ola.    The  term  is  used  also  for  "father-in-law." 

6.  -la,  honorific  suffix,  "used  with  proper  names,  titles,  and  respect- 
fully."    Cf.  Japanese  San. 

7.  'Ik,  to  take,  here  in  the  sense  of  "gripping"  or  "wielding"  (his 
adze).     The  form  is  an  abbreviation  of  'ifc-nga,  taking. 

8.  ig-ydura-tdg-re,  P,  worked  incessantly.     The  prefix  ig-  presumably 
modifies  the  root  yaura,  or  it  may  have  a  pronominal  force,  "he."    Ydura, 
doubtless,  is  a  euphonic  variation  of  gdiiro,  to  be  strong;  used  here  in  the 
sense  of  working,  i.e.,  Bia  showed  strength  in  wielding  his  adze.     I  have 
preferred  to  keep  the  original  sense  of  ' '  strong, ' '  as  being  more  vivid 
(cf.  below,  note  15).     The  root  tag  P  seems  to  translate  "incessantly." 
Tag,  then,  must  be  a  euphonic  variation  of  tdm  (complete  form,  on-tdm).    It 
seems  to  me  that  ' '  incessantly  strong ' '  may  well  be  changed  to  ' '  mighty 
strong. ' ' 

8.  -re,  suffix  giving  the  effect  of  the  perfect  tense. 

9.  wold,  adze.     The  prefix   'ar-  of  the  previous  line  is  omitted.     Pre- 
sumably the  juxtaposition  of  Mo-la  and  wold,  carrying  a  possessive  sense 
(Bia's  adze),  renders  the  'ar-  unnecessary. 

10.  ng'-ig-yduro-bd,  P,  you  worked  little.    Ng'  is  the  abbreviated  form 
of  the  second  personal  pronoun  ngdl  before  a  prefix.     The  yaura  of  the 
line  before  becomes  ydiiro,  a  slight  change  of  no  significance.     The  final 
root,  M,  translated  "little"  by  P  (cf.  P,  p.  337),  resembles,  or  is  identical 
with,  the  negative  suffix  -ba  (probably  from  ydba,  not)  which  is  affixed 
directly  to  those  roots  of  group  (3)  the  meanings  of  which  permit  its  use. 
Yduro  is  such  a  root,  and  therefore  the  force  of  bd  in  this  line,  so  far  as 
the  Andamanese   are  concerned,   is  probably   a  general  negative — much 
like  the  slang  "nit"    ("You,  wielding  Bia's  adze  were  strong — not!"). 
The  perfect-tense  suffix,  -re,  is  omitted. 

11.  ~L'dda,  he.     L'  is  euphonic;   oda  is  the  form  of  the  third  person 
singular  pronoun  that  is  used  with  verbs  in  the  imperfect  tense  (cf.  above, 
VIII,  note  5).     The  meaning  of  the  line  is  obscure.     Is  it,   "He,  Bia, 


122       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

wielding  (his  adze),  you  were  afraid,"  or,  "His,  Bia's  (adze)  wielding, 
you  were  strong"?  If  the  former,  what  is  the  function  of  the  final 
compound,  "You  were  strong"?  If  the  latter,  with  Ldt,  "afraid,"  in 
the  next  line,  must  be  supplied,  "He,  Bia,  wielding  his  adze."  Or  may 
not  the  line  be  ironical,  thus:  "He,  Bia,  wielding  (his  adze)  you  were 
strong!  "  (sarcasm,  followed  by  the  abrupt,  "You  were  afraid  when  you 
saw  his  biceps  rise  up").  I  have  adopted  the  last  interpretation. 

12.  The  final  -6  is  probably  a  meaningless  vocable,  though  if  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  line  as  ironic  is  correct  the  -6  may  well  be  a  sarcastic  excla- 
mation.    In  the  free  translation  I  have  ventured  to  introduce  an  ironic 
"eh?" 

13.  Ldt,  afraid;  a  prefix  and  the  tense  suffix  are  omitted. 

14.  6m-madab,  P,  his.     "A  mixture  of  prefixes  and  pronouns  concocted 
for  the  sake  of  euphony,  and  has  the  meaning  only  of  'his'  "  (P,  p.  181). 

15.  gaura,   ' '  which   may  mean   '  strong, '   '  strength, '   or,   in   this   case, 
'biceps'  "  (P,  p.  181).    P's  note  is  a  justification  of  the  version  "strong" 
in  the  previous  lines,  especially  in   view  of  the  fact  that  we  are  thus 
enabled  to  follow  the  Andamanese  in  using  one  root   (strong,  strength) 
throughout. 

16.  -16,  either  a  meaningless  syllable  to  suit  the  rhythm  or  a  way  of 
ending  the  compound. 

17.  fern,  to  rise  up;  a  perfect-tense  suffix  (-re)  is  omitted. 


AKA-BEA-DA  SONG,  NO.  3 

This  is  a  song  about  a  man  named  Ira  Cha,  who  was  a  seer,  or 
Auko-pdlat-da  (lit.,  a  sleeper,  i.e.,  one  who  is  subject  to  trances). 
He  used  to  say,  and  the  Andamanese  believed  him,  that  in  his 
trances  he  went  under  the  sea  and  mixed  with  the  Jiiruwin,  the 
Spirits  of  the  Sea.  These  did  not  know  who  he  was,  and  they 
searched  for  him  everywhere.  According  to  the  composer,  they 
tried  to  find  out  his  name  from  each  of  the  tribes  of  the  Andam- 
anese, but  at  last  they  identified  him  in  the  country  of  the  Aka- 
Bea-da.  They  always  remembered  him,  and  his  name,  says  the 
refrain,  is  mighty  in  the  land. 

This  composition  "has  often  been  sung  at  the  dances  for  the 
taking  off  of  mourning,  and  was  originally  composed  for  one  of 
those  ceremonies.  On  these  occasions,  though  actually  referring 
to  Ira  Cha,  it  is  also  inferentially  applied  to  the  deceased  for 
whom  the  people  have  been  in  mourning"  (P,  p.  183). 


1922] 


Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs 


123 


Solo: 
E1 

Country  Akar-Bdle, 

did,5        I'dtd-i* 

looked  for,     looked  for-O, 


Juruwin-laga3 

Sea-in-Spirits 


'id'-tt-ting* 

his-        name 


E        raka-B6jig-ydb-nga,7 

Country  Aka-Bdjiff-i/d6-nga, 

dtd,        rdtd-i, 

looked  for,    looked  for-O, 


Juruwin-laga     'id  '-6t-ting 

Sea-in-Spirits  his-          name 


E        1  'aka-Yeri,8        Juruwin-laga 

Country  Aka-Yeri,  Sea-in-Spirits 

dtd,        rdtd-i, 

looked  for,    looked  for-O, 

E       raka-Bea,» 

Country          Aka-Bea, 

ng'ig-lomya,11 

you       -knowing, 

'Id  '-6t-ting     jdrengo-a  ;13 

His-        name  repeated-O; 

yd  tira.™ 


Juruwin-laga 

Sea-in-Spirits 

raka-kdled,12 

for  themselves, 

ldg-614 

place-O 


'id'-6t-ting 

his-          name 


his- 


took, 


ba1 


his- 


strong. 

Refrain  : 

L6g-6 

Place-O 

'id'-6t-ting      ba 

his-       name 

yaura. 

strong. 

Translation : 

In  the  land  of  the  Akar-B&e,  the  Spirits  of  the  Sea  his 

name  sought  and  sought  0! 
In  the  land  of  the  Aka-Bojig-ydb-nga,  the  Spirits  of  the 

Sea  his  name  sought  and  sought  0 ! 
In  the  land  of  the  Yerewos,  the  Spirits  of  the  Sea  his  name 

sought  and  sought  0 ! 
In  the  land  of  the  Aba-Bea,  the  Spirits  of  the  Sea  his  name 

learned  (you  knew  it)  for  themselves; 
His  name  they  repeated  0 !    In  this  place  0  his  name  is 

mighty. 
In  this  place  0  his  name  is  mighty. 


124       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

1.  j£  —  er  (cf.  above,  IX,  note  3)  —  erema-da,  country,  place. 

2.  I'aka-Bdld,  supply  "of  the"   (country  of  the  Akar-Bale).     On  this 
tribe  see  above,  V,  note  1.     The  1'  is  euphonic. 

3.  Juruwin-laga,  P,  Spirits  of  the  Sea.     Mru  is  "sea."     Is  win  an 
adaptation  of  the  postposition  len  "  in  "  ?    Compare  wan,  a  rare  PuchiJcwdr 
postposition,  meaning  "in."     Juruwin  looks  like  a  compound.     For  laga 
I  find  a  meaning  ' '  height, ' '  which  apparently  is  a  metaphoric  extension 
of   laga,  the  name   of   a  certain   species  of  very  tall  tree    (P,   p.   278). 
"Height"  by  a  common  association  means  "depth,"  and  "sea-in-deep" 
might  refer  to  the  spirits  who  live  deep  in  the  sea.     Again,  laga  might 
be  from  lad,  spirits   (see  above,  III,  note   1),   or  it  may  be  related  to 
ig-lagada-da,  a  newly  risen  or  uneasy  sleeper,  hence,  possibly,  spirits  (cf.  P, 
p.  278). 

4.  }id.'-6t-ting,  his  name:   'id-  =  'ig-,  a  prefix  with  ting,  "name,"  which 
is  a  root  of  group  (1),  since  the  simpler  peoples  regard  one's  name  as  a 
part  of  his  very  body;   'id-,  therefore,  has  the  force  of  "his"  (P,  p.  64). 
The  second  prefix,  6t-,  is  also  used  with  roots  of  the  first  class.     Its  office 
here  I  do  not  understand,  unless  in  some  way  it  modifies  the  meaning  of 
the  root. 

5.  aid,  P,  sought ;  literally,  to  see ;  hence  my  translation,  ' '  looked  for, ' ' 
which  keeps  the  meaning  a  little  better  than  "sought."     The  perfect- 
tense  suffix,  -re,  has  been  omitted. 

6.  l'dtd-i.     The  1'  is  euphonic;  on  did  see  the  previous  note;  the  i  is, 
probably,  a  meaningless  vocable. 

7.  l'aka-B6jig-yab-nga,  P,  the  PuchiJcwdr.    This  is  the  Aka-Uea-da  name 
for  the  Puchikwdr,  signifying,  "they  speak  Andamanese"   (P,  p.  27).     On 
this  tribe  see  below,  XI,  note  1.     The  1'  is  euphonic. 

8.  I'aka-Yeri,  P,  the  Terewas.    "The  country  of  the  Teri  here  mentioned 
may  mean  that  of  the  people  of  the  North  Andaman  group  of  tribes,  who 
were  formerly  called  Yen-da;   or  may  possibly  be  intended  for  the  Kol 
and  Aukau-Juwoi  tribes,  who  were  also  called  by  this  name  by  the  southern 
septs  of  the  Aka-£m-da  tribe"  (P,  p.  183). 

9.  I'aka-Bea,  the  Aka-Bea-da  (see  above,  VIII,  note  1),  the  noun  suffix, 
-da,  being  omitted  because  the  word  occurs  within  a  sentence. 

10.  1'ik,  P,  took.     The  1'  is  euphonic;  the  root  f.k  means  "to  take," 
"to  find,"  "to  learn"  (cf.  above,  IX,  note  7);  the  perfect  suffix,  -re,  is 
omitted. 

11.  ng'ig-lomya,  P,  you  knew.     Ng'  is  the  usual  abbreviation  of  the 
second  person  singular  or  plural  pronoun  before  a  prefix.     Lomya  is  re- 
lated to  the  Akar-Bdle  id   (=  ig)  -lomang,  to  know.     Perhaps  lomya  is  a 
poetic  contraction  of  lomang -nga,  knowing.     Either  the  phrase  is  paren- 
thetical ("you  knew  it" — the  name)  or  it  gives  the  source  of  information. 

12.  I'aka-MUd,  P,  of  themselves.     L',  euphonic;  aka-,  prefix;  Jcdled  I 
do  not  find  in  the  vocabulary. 


1922] 


Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs 


125 


13.  jdrengo-d,  P,  remembered  that.    The  root  is  probably  a  poetic  form 
from  some  compound  of  yob  (ydr,  in  Aukau-JwwoI) ,  to  say.    "We  remember 
by  "saying  over  to  ourselves,"  and  therefore  I  have  substituted  "repeated." 
If  -a  is  for  Ted,  "that,"  as  suggested  by  P's  translation,  it  should  have 
been  printed  in  italics,  as  a  root.    It  may  be  a  meaningless  vocable. 

14.  log-6,  P,  place  in.     Ar-log-da,  is  "place."     The  prefix  has  been 
omitted  by  the  composer.     -6  is  probably  a  vocable;  it  does  not  mean 
"  in, "  as  suggested  by  P 's  version.    With  log-6  P  begins  a  new  line,  quite 
unnecessarily. 

15.  ba,  I  do  not  find.    P  has  not  printed  it  as  a  root  and  he  does  not 
give  it  as  an  affix.    Presumably,  therefore,  it  is  a  meaningless  syllable  to 
eke  out  the  rhythm. 

16.  ydura  =  gdura,  strong,  strength;  P,  always.     The  meaning  of  the 
passage  seems  to  be  "  His  name  is  strong  (mighty,  always  remembered) 
in  the  land,"  though  keeping  "his  name  in  place"  may  have  some  other 
meaning  for  the  Andamanese.     P's  free  translation   of  the  refrain  is: 
' '  They  always  kept  his  name  in  honoured  remembrance,  and  frequently  spoke 
about  him." 


XI 


PUCHIKWARi  SONG,  NO.  1 

It  is  to  be  inferred  that  the  composer  has  been  chipping  a 
canoe  all  day.  In  the  solo  he  means  to  say  that  before  going  to 
bed  he  cut  a  number  of  incisions  to  outline  the  work  for  the  next 
day.  In  the  refrain  he  says  that  the  chips  (from  the  work  he  had 
already  done)  lay  in  a  heap  around  the  canoe. 


Solo: 


T'6m-ema-'t2 

My-      bed-     ? 

poche3 

poche 

td4          taur? 

chips         chipped-in-line, 

lungi.* 

indeed, 

My-      bed-      ? 

poche 

poche 

td       tdur. 

chips     chipped-in-line. 

Pech-chdl1 

Scattered-middle 

tdule8 

chips 

berdto-li.9 

in  a  heap-O. 

Refrain : 

Pech-chdl 

Scattered-middle 


taule 

chips 


berdto-li. 

in  a  heap-O. 


126       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

Translation : 

My  bed !    My  poche  chips  are  chipped  in  line,  indeed ! 
My  bed !    My  poche  chips  are  chipped  in  line. 
Scattered  in  the  middle,  chips  0  in  a  heap  0 ! 
Scattered  in  the  middle,  chips  0  in  a  heap  0! 

1.  A  tribe  inhabiting  Baratan  Island,  certain  smaller  adjacent  islands, 
a  part  of  the  south  coast  of  the  Middle  Andaman,  and  the  northeast  coast 
of  the  South  Andaman.     The  PuchiJcwdr  and  Kol  languages  resemble  each 
other  rather  closely;  they  differ  very  considerably  from  the  Aka-Uea-da 
and  Akar-Bdle.    The  Aukau-Jwwm  is  nearer  the  first  than  the  second  pair. 
1 '  There  is  some  reason  for  supposing  that  PuchiJcwdr  was  the  original 
language  from  which  these  other  languages  are  derived.     At  any  rate, 
the  roots,  and  the  construction  of  the  compound  words,  are  very  clearly 
shown  in  PuchiJcwdr"   (P,  p.  27).     The  meaning  of  the  tribal  name  is 
given  as  "They  speak  Andamanese. " 

2.  T'om-eraa-'t,  P,  I  before  sleeping,  literally,  my  bed.     T',  first  per- 
sonal pronoun  singular  (M-le)  abbreviated  before  the  prefix  om-;  ema  = 
emi,  "bed,"  "house";   -'t,  perhaps  a  present-participle  suffix  from  the 
Akar-Bale  (note  the  participial  form  of  P's  first  translation),  the  meaning 
being,  "I  bedding,"  i.e.,  "I  going  to  bed,"   "I  preparing  for  bed." 
Or  the  't,  perhaps,  should  go  with  the  following  poche,  -t 'poche,  my  canoe 
(a  prefix  omitted?).     Most  likely,  however,  the  worker   exclaims  "My 
bed!"  by  way  of  anticipation:      "My  bed!      My  poche  chips  are  cut, 
indeed." 

3.  poche,  P,  canoe.    But  rd-da  is  the  generic  term  for  canoe,  and  more 
specific  terms,  as  explained  above  (VII,  note  6),  are  drawn  from  the  name 
of  the  tree  from  which  the  canoe  is  made.     Thus,  poche  is  the  name  for 
a  species  of  Sterculia  (P,  p.  46).     It  seems  better  to  speak  of  the  com- 
poser's canoe  as  his  poche.    A  pronominal  prefix  is  missing. 

4.  td,  chips.     The  more  usual  form  is  tdu,  and  the  primary  meaning  is 
"bone."     The  "bones"  of  a  log  would  be  the  chips  cut  from  it    (cf. 
above,  III,  note  2).     Tail  means  also:  shin-bone,  nut,  claw,  to  cut  with 
an  adze.    The  plural  number  is  obvious  from  the  context. 

5.  tdur,  P,  in  line.     Probably  for  the  complete  form  6m-tdur,  beside, 
i.e.,  in  line;  the  root  means  also,  to  spread  out,  to  set  in  line  (P,  p.  353), 
and  echoes  the  previous  ta  (tdu) :  "chips  chipped  in  line,"  or  "cuts  cut 
in  line,"  would  give  the  effect  in  English.     Tdur  is  an  abbreviated  form, 
a  suffix,  and  perhaps  a  prefix,  having  been  omitted  by  the  composer. 

6.  lungi,  indeed.     Presumably  an  exclamation  or  intensive.     It  is  fre- 
quently found  in  combination  with  other  forms  to  signify,  that  much, 
then,  really,  at  the  same  time, — also  superlative  degrees,  etc. 

7.  Pech-chdl,  P,  in  that  place.     The  first  root,  which  appears  to  be 
related  to  pe  and  pete,  has  as  its  basic  meaning,  to  be  scattered  or  dotted 


1922]  Kurtz:  Twelve  Andamanese  Songs  127 

about  irregularly;  hence,  to  scatter,  separate,  halve,  splash,  twinkle,  etc. 
(P,  p.  353;  Yocab.,  pp.  71,  139,  141,  etc.).  Perhaps  we  should  see  a  ref- 
erence to  the  chips  scattered  on  the  ground.  P's  "in  that  place"  is 
probably  a  very  free  rendering  of  the  sense.  Pech  may  be  an  abbreviated 
form,  but  if  the  word  is  participial  in  force  it  should  be  noted  that  the 
Puchikicdr  generally  omit  the  participial  suffix.  Chdl  seems  to  mean 
"middle"  (P,  p.  SOS),  referring  to  the  chips  scattered  in  the  middle 
of  the  place  (hence  P 's  rendering)  where  he  was  cutting  the  canoe.  The 
complete  form  would  have,  I  suppose,  a  postposition  (-an,  "in")  and  a 
prefix. 

8.  taiile,  P,  chips.     Why  taiile  instead  of  tail,  as  above?    In  the  vocab- 
ulary tdule  is  given  as  the  Cyrena  shell  (P,  p.  228;  cf.  above,  I,  note  4), 
which  was  the  primitive  knife  of  the  Andamanese.     But  are,  or  were, 
canoes  hollowed  out  with  Cyrena  shells,  the  broken  and  blunted  "blades" 
being  scattered  about  during  the  operation?    Shells  are  not  strong  enough 
for  such  work.     Probably  taiile  is  a  poetic  variation  of  tail,  and  perhaps  in 
our  free  translation  we  should  copy  the  effect  of  the  extra  syllable  by  a 
ballad  "O." 

9.  berdto-li,  P,  remained  in  a  heap.    I  do  not  find  the  root.    The  form 
lacks  prefix  and  suffix.    The  -li  is  probably  a  meaningless  vocable. 


XII 

PUCHIKWAR  SONG,  NO.  2 

We  are  to  infer  that  the  composer  killed  a  pig  ~by  stabbing  it 
w-ith  a  skewer.  When  he  shouldered  the  carcass  to  take  it  home, 
the  blood,  he  says,  kept  dripping  down  on  his  legs. 

Solo: 


Chdm-lo1        t  ewe-long2         t'ab-tdu3 

Skewer-O  (?)             blood- 

my  -shins 

T'ab-fom        1'ar-c/i-i 

are-ate  ;5 

My   -shins                  kept  dripping; 

Re-le6        t'ab-taii 

Tar-c/m  re-ate  ; 

Pig-                    my  -shins 

kept  dripping; 

Re-le        t'sb-tdu 

Tar- 

Pig-                   my  -shins 

dripped, 


-Chdre-aie;  re-le  tf'ab-tau        1'ar- 

-Kept  dripping:  pig-  my  -shins 

Refrain  : 

-Chare-Site',  re-le  t'ab-tdu        1'ar- 

-Kept  dripping;  pig-  my  -shins. 


128       University  of  California  Publications  in  Modern  Philology     [Vol.  11 

Translation : 

From  the  skewer  0  the  blood  0  on  my  shins  dripped  down, 

On  my  shins  kept  dripping  down ; 

From  the  pig  0  on  my  shins  kept  dripping  down : 

From  the  pig  0  on  my  shins  kept 

Dripping  down ;  from  the  pig  0  on  my  shins  kept. 

Dripping  down;  from  the  pig  0  on  my  shins  kept. 

1.  CMra-16,  P,  skewer-from.     Cham,  for  chdm-chul,  a  skewer.     So  far 
as  I  can  see  there  is  no  postposition  here  to  correspond  to  P's  "-from." 
The  -16  is  probably  an  extra  syllable  to  eke  out  the  rhythm. 

2.  tewe-long,  blood.     Tewe,  or  tewa,  is  "blood";   -long  is  given  else- 
where (P,  p.  139)  as  an  honorific,  but  P  tells  us  that  honorifics  are  attached 
only  to  proper  names.     Possibly  one's  own  blood  deserves  the  title   of 
respect !     I  have  omitted  the  honorific,  if  it  be  such,  from  the  interlinear 
and  free  translations,  but  have  inserted  an  "O"  in  place  of -it  in  the 
free  version. 

3.  t  'sib-tan,  P,  my  legs.     T',  as  above,  XI,  note  2;   ab-cMZMw-da,  or 
ab-tdu,  the  shin.     Ab-tdu,  literally,  is  "the  bone,"  but  it  is  used  of  the 
lower  part  of  the  leg  from  the  knee  to  the  ankle.    Ab-  is  a  prefix  with  a 
root  of  group  (1),  referring  the  generic  root  tail,  bone,  to  a  certain  division 
of  the  human  frame. 

4.  1'ar-chdre,  dripped.     The  P  is  euphonic;  ar-,  prefix;  chare  for  char, 
"to  flow,"  referring  primarily  to  the  flowing  of  a  brook  or  any  stream 
of  water.     The  prefix  ar-  relates  this  general  idea  of  flowing  to  certain 
parts  of  the  human  body,  specified  in  the  previous  word,  shins.     The  tense 
suffix  is  omitted,  unless  the  form  chare  is  a  combination  of  char  and  the 
Aka-Bea-da  perfect-tense  suffix,  re.     The  disjunctive  character  of  Andam- 
anese  syntax  is  well  illustrated  in  this  line. 

5.  -ate.     This  suffix  is,  perhaps,  a  variant  of  the  imperfect-tense  suffix, 
-kate,  in  AkaT-Bdle.     -Ya  or  -ye  would  be  the  PuchiJcwdr  form.     P  in  his 
interlinear  translation  makes  no  distinction  between  I'ar-chdre  and  1'ar- 
chdre-ate.    My  change  in  the  second  line  to  "kept  dripping"  will  at  least 
serve  to  mark  the  fact  that  the  original  does  change,  but  in  part  only. 

6.  JBe-le,  pig.     The   -le   may  be   an   honorific.     Perhaps  the   succulent 
delicacy  is  an   exception  to  the  rule  that  honorifics   are  added   only  to 
perfect  names.    If  -le  were  the  PuchiTcwdr  postposition,  "from, "  P  would 
have  printed  it  -le.     In  the  free  translation  I  have  let  an  "  O  "  take  its 
place. 

7.  "Observe  how  the  Solo  ends  at  the  junction  of  a  prefix  and  a  root, 
the  root  being  the  first  word  of  the  refrain,  which,   also,  ends  with  a 
prefix — the  whole  thus  working  in  a  circle"  (P,  p.  186).    I  have  endeav- 
ored to  represent  this  circular,  or  run-on,  refrain  in  translation  by  dividing' 
the  lines  between  l '  kept ' '  and  ' i  dripping. ' ' 


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